Kinesis Page 18

  Well. Waverly had known that. He just didn't think his idealized self-image was really that different from his usual.

  Okka sent him a little perspective in the form of what the differences really looked like from the outside. The two of them in Waverly's self-image looked perfectly healthy. Younger, lighter in his movements. Less weighed down. No black-bruised circles under his eyes. And he looked more self-assured, as well. The healing that had permeated him, body and soul, had changed who Waverly was on many levels.

  It must have been uncanny. Like Nifu meeting Okka and knowing immediately that this was not quite the father she had known.

  Right on that line between the human and the not.

  "David," they said in Waverly's voice, just a simple greeting.

  "Who are you?" David asked, shaking, but obviously determined to get an answer.

  A response occurred to them, and there was an immediate, fierce struggle over whether to say it. They both knew it wouldn't make things better, but their impish sides won out.

  "I can explain, Dave." The voice was a perfect copy of HAL's.

  David's face held clear terror. But then it turned to confused recognition.

  "Waverly?" he ventured.

  They laughed like a maniac, shifting between the odd not-quite-right version of Waverly and the usual shape of Okka.

  David gaped, momentarily unable to find words. Then, with force, he found them.

  "What the fuck is going on?!"

  Toto's half-armored chassis wandered in from the lab entrance. "Apparently it's my job to be the voice of reason today," he said. "Gods help us all. Anyway. Here's the deal. Waverly's fine… or, well, he will be. Okka is reconstructing his body from the inside out, using xir shapeshifting powers. Saving his life. Have I got that right, guys?"

  "You two will be the death of me," David said, shaking his head, although he didn't actually seem that put out.

  "I'm sorry," Okka/Waverly said. "It was too good an opportunity to pass up."

  "I know, right?" Toto said. "He's so cute when he's creeped out."

  "Why do I work here?" David lamented in the direction of the ceiling. "Why do I stay?"

  "'Cause I pay you gazillions of dollars. And 'cause you love me." Waverly's face was back, for that one. The old familiar face.

  "I'm starting to sympathize with you, David," Toto said.

  "You'd better. I don't get a do-over if I keel over of a heart attack, since I'm not special friends with an alien shapeshifter."

  "Jealous?" Waverly/Okka asked, and it was both of them in concert, though it was Waverly's voice.

  "Not at all," David said. "I don't want to be anything other than myself."

  The smile that Waverly/Okka offered him in return was warm, full of the friendship he shared with them both.

  "Hey, so what do I call you when you're like this?" David asked.

  "That's not a question I've had to deal with before," they said with Okka's face. "Everyone in the Collective refers to smaller merged groups with a combined identity-feeling rather than a name. The homeworld doesn't really have a spoken language."

  Waverly's face formed again. "Humans like names," he said. "Naming things is how we control them a little, I guess. I'm pretty sure that one article calls Okka 'Waverly Kemp's Mystery Hero'."

  "Variations on 'mystery' are catching on the quickest," Toto told them, "discounting words like 'impossible' and 'hoax'."

  "Mystery." They mulled it over. "Yeah, let's jump on that before someone else names us something as horrendous as the now-infamous portmanteau that was 'Davy-Wavy'."

  "Waverly, you actively encouraged that," David reminded him.

  "Yes, well, I've learned my lesson. 'Mystery' sound good to you?"

  "As good a description as any of what you are right now," David admitted.

  "But what about who we are?" Okka's face asked.

  "That, too," David said. "You are a pair of living enigmas, Mystery." He smirked. "Well, now that I know you two are okay, you're no longer my biggest concern. You think I should change my title, now that I've got inhuman resources, too?"

  They shook their head. "Earth is not ready for David Miller, director of Inhuman Resources."

  He grinned at them as he left.

  Caroline called up to the office again soon after.

  "Chairman Pandrach would like to meet with you again," she told them. "He says it's urgent."

  Ugh.

  They were of one accord in that regard. But they unwound from each other a little, if nothing else so they'd remember to talk out loud, instead of just to each other, as they had accidentally done on and off through the interview.

  They walked their bond back a little, so they were no longer sharing thoughts, but only emotions and sensations. It felt something like an embrace.

  That was probably helped by the fact that they were still physically wrapped up in each other. Waverly had continued to heal, and he needed less and less support, so they were together now more by choice than anything else.

  Because disturbing Atur was a decidedly less fun prospect than disturbing David, they decided to be two familiar humanoid bodies, the same they'd worn when meeting each other, who were simply keeping close. They sat on the couch in the lounge area, gesturing Atur to a chair.

  "What's wrong now?" Waverly asked warily.

  "I received a message this evening," Atur said, face grim. He got out his pocket computer and turned the screen towards them.

  The image of the Empress stood clear and dark on the screen, coils writhing in anger. She spoke in the Avlan language, but Okka sent Waverly the thoughts that the message conveyed.

  "You are a protector of humanoids, Atur Pandrach. You have said so many times. Your concern should be the humans of Earth, not this Mimica. This Mimica, Okka, will be mine. Xe will join my Imperium, along with all the rest. I am sending a ship full of xir fellow Mimica to retrieve xem. It would be better for you, Chairman Pandrach, and better for Earth, if you do not get in their way. We will leave Earth in peace, once Okka is with us."

  Okka took a long, unsteady breath. "And what do you intend to do about this?" xe asked Atur.

  Atur looked xem in the eye. "The Empress lies. She will never rest until the entire universe is within the reach of her coils. We will not negotiate with such beings. I intend to deny her anything she asks."

  "Good," Waverly said. "So we fight." He looked between them, took in their grim faces. "How bad is this gonna be, really?"

  "This incursion was a small surgical strike force," Okka said. "An unplanned attack of opportunity. The Cewri go after one species at a time. They have at least one last Mimica to find. But now that they know I am here, they will turn their attention to humanity. And when they do, their armies will swarm in Earth's skies so thickly that day will become night."

  "Yikes."

  Okka's mouth quirked.

  Waverly's lips twisted, as if he wanted to smile as well but couldn't quite bring himself to. "We're gonna have a hell of a fight on our hands. What's the first step?"

  Okka sighed, separated xemself from Waverly and rose from the couch, pacing. "I have no blasted idea," xe said.

  "The Avlan Protectorates have fought the Cewri Imperium for thousands of years," Atur said. "We will continue to do so."

  "Fighting them now that they have the Mimica among them will be different," Okka told him sharply. "And you know it."

  There was a tightness around Atur's eyes as he replied. "We can handle Mimica. We always have."

  "I damn well know you can," Okka said through gritted teeth. "I watched you handle enough of us over the last few days."

  Atur said nothing, and his face was like a stone wall. Okka took on Myrdu's face, then, his height and Avlan bearing, just to remind Atur who xe had been, just weeks ago.

  "I watched my broodmate, my general, kill those of my kin I was once closest to. You think it's you I'm thinking of? I do worry over you. I will continue to worry over you. But you and your precious A
vlan army are no longer the center of my universe, Atur. I'm sorry if that hurts you. But you don't want to know how much it pains me, knowing what's happening to the Mimica, knowing that your sword is their most likely escape from it."

  "Myrdu," Atur said gravely. "You're just as I remember you."

  "That doesn't stop me from being Mimica," xe said, turning back to xir Earth shape slowly, so that Atur would be forced to see. "That doesn't stop me from being Okka."

  "I know, Okka," Atur said. "But I cannot hesitate to defend the Protectorates from any and all who would attack them."

  "Nor should you," Okka agreed. "But don't ask me to like it."

  Okka didn't say another word, and Atur left soon after, telling Waverly yet again to contact him if he needed anything. Okka went back to xir pacing.

  "Huh," Waverly said. "That guy? Makes me glad I'm an only child."

  Okka turned a poisonous glare on him. "You don't get to mock me for caring about him, even now."

  "Shit, Okka, you know I didn't mean it like that. So sue me for trying to lighten the mood!"

  Okka held out a hand to Waverly, who showed no sign of having seen it. He just kept looking pointedly at Okka.

  Okka shook xir hand in Waverly's face. "If you find my mood so unpleasant," xe said firmly, "then help me fix it!"

  "What's your snit really about, anyway?" Waverly asked, instead of moving.

  "I need to think of a solution. I can't sit idle while my species is used by their most hated enemy against their will. I cannot watch any more Mimica killed to protect me. I cannot ask my daughter to kill any more of her own kin!"

  "Yeah, this is not all on you. You don't get to wear yourself out over this. You've gotta give it a break." Waverly crossed his arms.

  "You can't tell me what to do, Waverly," Okka said with a truly poisonous glare.

  "Oh, in this case, I can and I will," Waverly said.

  "Waverly. Don't. I have to. I have to believe I can do this. I have to save my people."

  He shook his head. "You don't have to."

  "I have to keep trying," xe insisted. "Waverly, listen to me!"

  "No. You're being ridiculous." Waverly looked at xem, dead serious, earnest concern in his eyes. "You gotta stop. If it's making you feel like this, you gotta stop. There are other ways to survive. Some things really are impossible."

  "I thought that word wasn't in your vocabulary," Okka spat.

  "No, it's just an obscenity. And right now sure as fuck calls for obscenity. You got a shit deal here, yeah. But you gotta keep dealing with it."

  Okka reached for him once more. "Come on, Waverly. I don't want to argue about this."

  Waverly shook his head. "Yeah, the more I think about it, the more I don't want you in my head right now."

  Okka's nostrils flared. "You are my only Collective right now; you can't refuse me!"

  "I never agreed to that!" Waverly yelled.

  "You accepted what I am. Everything I am."

  Waverly's lips pressed together hard. "I don't want to share everything all the time. You must have seen that in me, too. Is that okay with you, sneaky space spy? Or is it time for you to move on to someone more?"

  Okka struggled over how to explain this in words when everything in xem screamed that words were not enough for this. Xir mouth opened and closed for a few moments, and xe could feel tears beginning to form in xir eyes.

  "I need…" Xe stopped to take a breath. "Waverly, I need, I can't, I can't live without a Collective." Xir arms gestured aimlessly, lost. "I have to have… something. Something I'm going to come back to." Xir fists clenched, then, hard, and xe glared at Waverly. "You have to be my Collective, or you have to stop telling me to give up on trying to find a way to save the old one!"

  Okka, drowning in the miserable concept of having neither, crumpled into a chair.

  There was silence for a long minute. Then Waverly took a breath.

  "Okay," he said weakly. "Shit. I don't… I never want you to give up. Just… slow it down. Just for right now," Waverly said. "Just for a second. Just take a breath, and let that go, and be here with me. And then I can be here with you."

  Okka sighed. "I love you. You are a hero. What would you not do to preserve your world, to preserve humanity? Would you ever truly rest, if they were in peril like this?"

  Waverly grimaced. "I'm sorry. You're right. I know you need to keep trying. I know you can't just shut it off."

  "You are so much of why I'm still alive," Okka said earnestly. "Why I still have the will to fight. If I am to keep hoping, keep fighting, I need you to believe in me. Believe that it's possible."

  Waverly looked xem in the eye. "I do."

  "Then tell me so, instead of telling me I should give up."

  "I'm sorry. I'll do better." Waverly put a hand over his heart. "Honest to blob." The fingers of his other hand casually brushed Okka's shoulder.

  "You know I'm not usually a blob," Okka pointed out. "I'm not even a blob now."

  "You're a cephalopoid. Same difference."

  "It really isn't. I'd say I have more structure than you, right now."

  "So, we're all blobs. But you are my blob. The one I swear by." Waverly reached out for Okka, pulling xem into his arms.

  "We aren't all blobs. Toto isn't a blob."

  "Exactly. You're my one and only blobbykins." His words were a little muffled as he nuzzled xir neck.

  "You make no sense."

  "You knew what you were signing up for, honey. You read all the terms and conditions, all the fine print."

  "Yes, I did."

  "And you still picked me."

  "Yes, I did," Okka agreed.

  "You must be some kind of crazy."

  "I suppose I am."

  "So you keep being you, all that fire, but also know I'm going to pull you away for breaks. You're my blob now. There's no getting out of it. And I don't know about you, but I could really use some Okka time." Waverly pulled xem more snugly into his arms. "Come here," he said, and if they had been merely human, they could hardly have gotten any closer together, but Okka knew what Waverly was asking.

  "Come here. I want to be with you, the way you need. I want to be as close to you as inhumanly possible. I want to do everything that I can to make sure you know, right down to the molecular level, that you are not alone."

  Waverly kept xir gaze, rubbed his fingertips through xir feathery hair.

  "I know," Okka assured him. "I know how much you would do for me, how far you'd go, how much you would sacrifice, and I am in awe of it."

  Waverly rubbed his hand against the skin of Okka's arm, pushed gently but with clear intent. When no connection was forthcoming, he asked, "So… is that a 'not now, Honey, I have a headache'?" He smiled, but it had a tiny unhappy twist to it.

  "No," said Okka, vague thoughts coalescing into a plan. Xe couldn't solve the problems of the Collective tonight, but maybe xe could do something for the family xe had right in front of xem. "It's a 'Before that, there's something I want to try'. There's something I've been wanting to do for you."

  "Huh," said Waverly. "Something you can only do when we're not doing our Steven Universe thing?"

  "Yes," Okka answered.

  The questions, the wild and varied thoughts that sparkled in Waverly's eyes, were delightful. Waverly Kemp was a man who loved a mystery. Waverly Kemp was a man for whom the only thing better than knowing the secrets of the universe was not knowing them.

  Okka smiled, and kissed him, just skin, humanoid and soft, skin against skin.

  "I had a feeling," said Waverly, "that I'm about to experience something unlike anything I've ever done before. And, I mean, that's saying something. I'm Waverly Kemp. I've been Pegasus. I've been you."

  "This will be new," Okka promised, still plastered against Waverly close enough that he could whisper. "For us both."

  "Oh," Waverly said, the timber of his voice already shifting towards a groan. "That… I can't even begin to explain what that does to me, just to hear
it."

  "I think I can make an educated guess," Okka murmured, lips skimming across Waverly's skin, just below his ear.

  "So…" Waverly sounded a little lost, spaces between his words gaping, clearly struggling to gather his thoughts. "Need any help, setting the stage?"

  "We'll need the swimming pool, I think," Okka told him, pulling him towards the elevator. "Some very particular mood lighting. And complete privacy."

  "Toto included?" Waverly asked.

  Okka considered. Toto was part of their little family, was symbiotically linked with Waverly in a way that was second only to Okka's bond with him. Toto was young, in many ways, but not innocent, and Waverly was not accustomed to shutting the AI out of his bedroom, or anywhere Waverly might go.

  "Toto," Okka said to the air in the elevator, "you may watch, if you wish, but if you do not, you may entrust Waverly's safety to me."

  The lights dimmed briefly, then came back up, showing acknowledgement without breaking into their conversational space.

  Toto was becoming adept at that. Xe felt a surge of warmth, a hint of pride. Okka loved xir newest family more than xe'd thought possible for non-shapeshifters.

  When they arrived at the pool, Okka tapped the light panel until all but the submerged lights were barely lit, and the water glowed with an eerie blue-green tinge, shifting slightly in hue in a rhythm that seemed to keep time with the gentle motion of the water.

  "Ominous," Waverly noted. He shivered a little, mostly anticipation, Okka thought. "I take it I won't need clothes?"

  "Leave them on, if you want," Okka told him. "If they get in my way, I'll take care of them."

  Waverly didn't have much in the way of a reply to that, but his mouth moved a little anyway, trying to find something that would cover it.

  Okka stepped silently into the space behind him, and abruptly ceased to be humanoid.

  This form had very little in the way of ocular organs but possessed an incredibly complex ability to hear and feel, the sensitivity of xir skin so great that the two senses nearly became indistinguishable. Every inch of xem could feel the vibrations of Waverly's hitched breath, could hear the lapping of the water in the pool.

  Xe had wanted to touch Waverly with this skin since xe had first heard him laugh. Everything xe had learned of Waverly since then had only made the thought more compelling. But where to start?