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  Waverly didn't answer, and that was actually when Okka began to register the worrying things about the situation. Toto was standing by the side of the couch, his attention on the screen as well. There was a deep furrow between Waverly's brows. Okka moved so xe could see what was happening on the screen that occupied so much focus and worry.

  That dread trickle of recognition hit Okka for the second time since all this had begun. Xe'd tried to believe Waverly that Earth-based cyberattacks were common enough and the one xe'd noticed was nothing to worry about. But before, Waverly had been quick enough to combat the attack that Okka never got a good look at it.

  Xe could see what was happening now. Those were Cewri tricks. The Cewri had sent one of their drones, and they were attacking Earth's communications networks, starting with one of KempTech's satellites and spreading to one of their server farms.

  Okka let out an involuntary whimper.

  "Yeah, it's rough, whatever it is," Waverly agreed. "We'll beat it, though. Nothing to worry about. Go back to sleep, Okka."

  Well, there was no way that was happening. The Cewri surveillance xe had been braced for was finally here. Okka's fingers itched to join in, to use all the tricks xe knew to minimize the damage.

  This was exactly what Myrdu had been so adept at. Stopping this. But Okka needed to stay under the radar. Xe needed to keep from alerting anyone to the fact that xe was alien. That was the best way xe knew how to help defeat the Cewri right now.

  Okka didn't know for a fact that Earth would reject those who weren't humanoid. In fact, Waverly and the others xe'd met here gave xem hope. But then, every other known humanoid species had aligned with the Avlans, against those who were other.

  But more importantly, Myrdu's methods were well-known in the galaxy. If Okka used them, xe would immediately attract the attention of both the Avlans and the Cewri. They would come to Earth prepared to fight.

  They would each do whatever they had to do to get their hands on the last free Mimica in the galaxy. The Cewri must already suspect that the missing Avlan not-quite-noble was their missing Mimica, and if the Avlans connected Myrdu's abilities with this new form, they would also know xem for what xe was. Okka feared those confrontations for xir own sake, and for the sake of xir people. But xe now had a new fear. That Waverly would stand in between Okka and whoever came looking for xem. That he would get himself killed.

  Okka needed more time to prepare, more time to plan. Xe couldn't risk either fleet appearing now, when xe was just finding xir feet here on this new world, alone in xir head.

  Okka clasped xir hands together, hard, and did nothing while Waverly fought a battle he must barely comprehend.

  Toto was clearly helping as well, corralling threats as soon as they were found and acting faster than humanly possible. It was likely they would manage to contain this attack.

  That wasn't much comfort. If the Cewri were looking for xem here, it would not be the last attack, and the next would be worse.

  Once Toto declared the systems clear Waverly sighed in relief, putting the tablet back down on the coffee table and covering his eyes with his hand.

  "What was that?" Okka asked, concern coloring xir tone.

  "I've got no idea," Waverly said. "Except that someone out there really doesn't like us, and whoever it is has a lot more processing power and ingenuity at their fingertips than anyone I can think of who doesn't already work for me or with me." He sighed. "Well, they didn't account for Toto, at least. That would've been rough to handle myself."

  There was nothing Okka could say without revealing too much of what xe knew, so instead xe curled back up and pretended to sleep, and just listened to Waverly breathe.

  The steady breaths had gone slow with sleep long before they managed to lull Okka down along with them.

  Chapter Seven

  Hanni looked at Okka with dead humanoid eyes glittering dully in xir canid skull. Drool dripped from xir sharp hunter's teeth. Okka didn't question how xe knew it was Hanni, with Hanni in an unfamiliar form and everything that was xir sibling gone from the mind. But xe knew.

  Hanni's children stood behind xem, arrayed like a wolf pack behind their leader. All with terrible dead eyes. Other Mimica Okka knew, in other predator's forms, were arrayed all around. And behind them all was the Empress, segments glinting beetle-bright even in the gloom around them, like a gigantic, seething millipede. Like a nest of millipedes.

  The Empress flicked out a loop of segments, pointing at Okka, giving some unheard command, and all the Mimica moved at once, Hanni's youngest bounding towards xem on strong limbs and sinking teeth into xir delicate human neck…

  Xe woke, screaming.

  "Okka?" Waverly asked from the other sofa, alarmed, but still bleary with sleep. "What's wrong?"

  Okka could only clutch xir blanket, breathing hard, and try to remember where xe was.

  "Hey. Okka." Waverly sounded more awake now, but no less concerned. He sat up slowly, leaning towards Okka. "Is it okay if I touch you?"

  "Give me a minute," Okka managed. "Just talk to me. Remind me where I am."

  "You're safe," Waverly said. "Safest apartment in New York, with the best AI ever built running the security system. Top floor of the Kemp building. Best views of the city at night. And you're with me. Waverly Kemp. Fortune 500 powerful and someone who'd do pretty much anything to keep you safe. You with me now?"

  Searching for reassurance, Okka tightened and unclenched xir fingers around the soft fabric of the blanket, leaned xir cheek against the leather arm of the sofa and smelled the scent of it, and looked around at where xe was, at the windows looking out over the bright, alive city below, undamaged by the Cewri. Xe looked at the door, just a plain wooden thing, but xe knew that Toto could be there in a moment if necessary. And xe looked up at Waverly.

  Waverly. Eyes wide and worried in his dark face. Graceful hand reaching out, but not touching.

  Okka's hands still shook, but xe reached out to grasp Waverly's hand in both of xirs.

  "You're okay," Waverly told xem, rubbing xir knuckles with his thumb. "You're safe."

  With xir panic petering out into exhaustion, Okka gave Waverly's hand one final squeeze, and let xir head fall back to the couch again.

  "You want to talk about it?" Waverly asked.

  Xe shook xir head vehemently.

  "All right," he said. "Okay. I'll just… I'll be here."

  Okka murmured, "Good."

  It took a long time, but Okka eventually fell back to sleep.

  *~*~*

  For the next few days, Okka was constantly on the lookout for the warning signs of the Cewri's next attack.

  They would learn from what they had seen of the systems they'd infiltrated, and they would not wait long to test their new knowledge. Okka wasn't sure if they suspected xe was here, or if they were attacking for another reason, but now that they'd started, they would not give up.

  That fear twisted itself through everything that Okka did, making it hard to focus on xir job and all the other little everyday tasks that still needed to be done.

  Somehow, it still managed to take Okka by surprise when they tried again. Xe'd been joking with Toto, when the robot's whole body suddenly stiffened, as if hearing something beyond the range of human ears. Toto made a beeline for Waverly's office, and Waverly's gaze went right to him like a magnet, eyes widening in immediate knowledge that something was wrong.

  Waverly spread out all the information he could find on the big screen that covered the surface of his desk, and pulled out a rarely-used keyboard on a sliding shelf below. If Okka was right about what xe was seeing, a Cewri attack drone had attached itself to the satellite, and it had programming intent on taking it over, then the whole network.

  "Can you fight this?" Okka asked. "Will you win?"

  "I wish I could tell you," Waverly answered, not looking away from the screen. "The virus is using a type of encryption I've never seen before."

  Okka watched, reminding xemself of all the
reasons xe could not interfere. Waverly's techniques would have made sense against a human attack, but he didn't know the Cewri. He was losing ground in the mess of server farms where Kemp Technologies made its digital home. Toto was busy trying to keep the attack from spreading to anyone else.

  Xe could not watch him fumbling around in the dark anymore, struggling to defend the things they both loved.

  Okka grabbed Waverly's hand, pulling it easily away from the keyboard. Xe was much stronger than xe looked. Xe began typing, fingers speeding over the keys.

  The servers were the arteries and veins of the internet. Okka could not stand by and watch another species' Collective made dead and suborned by the Cewri. Xe would not.

  Xe remembered Myrdu's training, his experience, and hacked the Cewri drone in return, shutting it down. Xe sighed in relief and stepped away again.

  Then xe remembered Waverly. Watching, awe, confusion, and fascination all warring for control of his face.

  Okka braced xemself. This could be bad.

  Waverly just looked at xem for a little while longer, then said, "That… was a programming language I didn't even recognize a little bit of."

  "I know," Okka admitted, fear beginning to crawl its way over xir skin.

  Waverly frowned. "And I know a damn lot of languages. You wanna tell me where you learned that one? What it means about whoever's targeting Kemptech?"

  Okka couldn't think of an answer that wouldn't make things worse. Xe kept silent.

  Waverly eyed xem, clearly conflicted, but turned his attention back to the screen in favor of helping Toto as he scoured the systems in search of damage.

  "Backups of the damaged servers are up and running. The satellite itself…" He trailed off, frowning. "They didn't manage to do anything permanent to the executables, far as I can tell," he said, "but there's… something. A video file, looks like."

  "Of what?" Okka asked, dreading exposure but not knowing how to stop it.

  "It scans clean," Toto told them. "It's not part of the digital attack." He turned his head-hand to Okka, as if asking a question. "I don't know of any reason why we shouldn't watch it."

  Okka shrugged helplessly, almost as curious as xe was terrified. How would the Cewri try to get humans to take their side?

  Waverly set the file to playing on his tablet, and human men in generic business suits appeared, staring at the camera.

  "Whoever is sheltering the dangerous being known as Okka," one of them said, "this is a warning. It would be best for everyone if they were returned to our custody with as little resistance as possible. When our agents come, do not fight them. Hand Okka over. They are more volatile than you know."

  Waverly gaped at the screen for several moments. When he unfroze, it was to say, "Holy shit. Those are legit men in black."

  Okka pressed xir lips together.

  Waverly's wide eyes turned to Okka, beginning to calculate. "Wait, Okka, are you—did you escape from somewhere bad? Were people experimenting on you?"

  "No, no, nothing like that," Okka insisted, but it came out of xir mouth tasting like a lie. Myrdu and his colleagues would have loved to get ahold of a real live Mimica to experiment on. And Okka had memories… old ones, and not xir own, but still… of what it was like for Mimica when that happened.

  Waverly pressed his lips together, considering Okka. "You know you can tell me, right?" he said. "I won't breathe a word. And I can protect you, if you need me to."

  "Not from these people. You don't know what you're offering."

  "Then tell me."

  "My enemies are nothing you have ever experienced," Okka told him, slowly, fearing backlash of what xe was about to do. Fearing the reaction that any other humanoid race would have upon learning what xe was. Xe forced the words out anyway. "Because they are not of this world."

  The gears were turning in Waverly's head. Okka imagined what it would be like to see them, to actually witness them. But that could never be.

  "So," Waverly asked slowly, clearly not quite believing, "paranormal or extraterrestrial?"

  Xe didn't especially want to know what would happen if xe told the truth, but nor did xe want to lie. It would only draw things out.

  "The latter," xe admitted.

  "And why do these aliens want you?"

  "Because of what I am."

  "What are you?" Waverly asked, a plea so strong it was almost a demand in his voice.

  Okka pushed xir chair away from xir desk, away from Waverly, and stood, stumbling a little. "Must I tell you?" xe asked, terror making xir voice wobble.

  His face twisted up, visibly distressed, visibly trying to calm himself, but still with that fevered gleam in his eye. "I mean, I wanna say no. I wanna trust you. But there's all these threats out here, right? All this stuff you know about and I don't. I need to know." His voice softened. "It's not gonna change how I feel. I've just… My whole life I've imagined meeting an alien. Now I'm maybe kind of dating one, I'm just excited, okay?"

  "No one trusts my kind. And they have their reasons. I spent my last few years on Avla as a spy. They are violently opposed to my people. They fear us. They have reason to. We are shapeshifters."

  Waverly looked awed, sad, and fascinated all at once. "I don't get how they could see that as anything but amazing."

  "We can go anywhere, be anyone. There is nowhere that is safe from us. When we merge with another being—take them into ourselves—it affects their minds, learning what it means to be one of us, makes them strange to their fellow creatures."

  "All that knowledge, I bet it would. I know enough already that I'm strange to my fellow humans, though." Waverly cocked his head. "What else?"

  "We've recently—" Okka choked on the words. "Something has happened, something—that makes us more dangerous. I can't—I can't."

  "You don't have to tell me," Waverly said. "Not right now, at least. It's all right, it's cool. Either way, it doesn't scare me."

  This ridiculous man was so brave. Okka stepped closer to Waverly and put xir hands on either side of his face, gently rubbing his cheeks with xir thumbs. "You should be afraid," xe said sadly.

  Waverly looked back, unflinching. "I'm not."

  "You don't have all the facts," Okka said, "and I am telling you that if you did, and you had any sense, you would be terrified."

  Waverly curled his fingers gently around Okka's wrists. "I know you. I know who you are. That's all that matters."

  Xe just shook xir head. "You're wrong."

  "Well, it's all I need to know."

  Xe squinted at Waverly. "I thought I was a puzzle to be solved?"

  "I'm curious," he said. "But trying to talk about it was hurting you. I won't ask you to tell me the story of your people and your world. But—would it be okay—can you show me? What you can do? what you look like normally?"

  Thinking it through, Okka contemplated him, wanting so badly to show Waverly, to dance with this man the way only a Mimica could. Wanting it so badly, xe could barely breathe, But that was out of reach.

  Xe took a breath, then gave the only answer xe could. "Because of—what has happened, it's best if I keep to humanoid forms at the moment."

  "But you could take different human forms?"

  "I suppose I could, at that." That was firmly within the boundaries of all the emergency protocols. And there were a couple of forms xe was pretty damn familiar with. But the glass walls of the office around them were dangerous. "Not here, though. Can we go upstairs?"

  "Yeah, yeah. Whatever you need."

  Let this be enough to assuage his curiosity, Okka begged of the universe, but not enough to provoke his fear or disgust.

  As soon as they were safe in Waverly's home, Okka became David, imitating the bounce of his step, the coppery shine of his hair, the twinkle in his seaglass-pale eyes.

  Waverly's eyes boggled. "Okay, that's weird," he said pointedly. "I'd rather you didn't look like my ex just now. That's still cool, though."

  That wasn't the worst reaction. Ok
ka felt much of the remaining tension leave xem. "It's easier with people whose DNA I've had access to."

  "Hey, when did you have…"

  Okka interrupted the question by shifting into Waverly's form, all wiry strength and dark skin. Xe imitated Waverly's constant movement, from restless fingers to mobile face, nearly dancing just standing still.

  They stood, mirroring each other, Waverly's eyes examining every inch of his counterfeit self. This was a form he would know better than any other, but it was also the form Okka had studied, and been completely preoccupied with, for weeks on end. Xe knew xe was doing it justice.

  Somehow, when Okka looked like Waverly, standing and waiting to be judged didn't seem so awful.

  *~*~*

  Waverly knew the body he saw in front of him better than anything else in the world, and it was a perfect facsimile. The same dark skin tone, the same short, fleecy hair. The same shape, motions, timing of the tapping fingers keeping beat with nothing.

  There was one thing in front of him that Waverly was less than used to seeing. Unlike the self-assessing eyes in the mirror, warmth and humor radiated from that dark familiar face.

  "Well, hey. Am I that pretty?" he asked his living reflection.

  "Oh, yes." Xe had Waverly's voice, but xir own accent still, that vaguely northern European lilt.

  "Can I kiss you?" Waverly asked.

  Only then did he see the familiar hesitation in those deep brown eyes.

  He held up his hands. "Sorry. Shouldn't have asked."

  "No, please," Okka in Waverly's shape said. "Please do. Please kiss me."

  Okka was precisely his height, precisely his texture, precisely his skin tone. Xir fingers fluttered in familiar rhythms across Waverly's neck. Xir mouth tasted like his own.

  It wasn't a fantasy he'd ever had before, but damn was it hitting all his buttons now. He pulled back from the kiss. "Wouldn't the press have a field day with this. The world already thinks I only think about myself."