I am Cassie, short for Cassiopeia. I was given this
name, as were all my brethren, by Raven. I am the primal
of change. My domain is fairly simple, as far as I am
concerned. I help people to find their full potential. I help
people on their path, giving them new ways to do things.
Some are stubborn and refuse my hand, but in the end
they all succumb, even Raven.
It started simply with a small headache. Though not
uncommon, still it was perplexing all the same. The new
year had come and gone, along with the storing of the
fleet, which was now stored in a box ready for when
humanity would need them once again. I had agreed to the
cap on the speeds attainable so that humanity would be
able to accept the fleet. Tornak had been correct, they
were having enough to deal with. What hadn't been made
know was that Harper and Teresa had been fitted with the
new engines, so that if there was an emergency, they
could respond quickly. Recovery had been a little more
difficult than usual, but otherwise normal. Now was just a
matter of sitting back and waiting.
That was when the headaches started. I had
always been prone to migraines the likes of which
humanity had no idea. It was at the guild that Chris and I
found out what the cause was. The answer had been
disappointingly simple. I can still see the look on Julia's
and Stephen's faces. "You get one of your headaches
every time you program a new neuron. You remember
everything, and it becomes part of your DNA. The change
begins in your brain. A human can't do this, and as far as
we know, not even the gods are capable of this kind of
continual adaption. The pain is an indicator of large scale
change. The more you learn, the bigger the headache."
they told me. I accepted this with only a nod. Much later,
Julia would come up with something for them, with Syd's
help.
I was in the middle of helping Jade plan the security for
Emperor Wu's wedding. It was going to be completely
traditional, so there were to be no guns available for the
security forces. Jade had asked my help mostly because I
knew the courtly protocols better then her or Ming. I had
been sparring with her. As we talked, I felt dizzy. I woke to
Jade's face looking down at me. I realized I was on the
floor. Before she could ask me if I was all right, I told her,
"Don't tell your father, please."
She only shook her head. "If you promise to be
checked out." she said.
I had felt off since Gideon had woken me for
Christmas. "We will go to Remmy's and Stephen can
check me over." I suggested. She agreed and made me sit
up slowly. Stephen and I had given her a rather strange gift
for Christmas. I had downloaded my medical knowledge
into Jade. She was now able to make diagnoses like a
general practitioner. I listen more to Jade now. She didn't
have to badger me so much.
We arrived and Stephen took out his tricorder. He did a
double take that was priceless. "I don't know how or why,
but there is a white count present. You, my dear, have an
infection." he stated in his dry British fashion. How he had
managed to keep it for a quarter-million years, I'll never
know for sure.
Jade and I must have looked like we had swallowed
koi. Large koi. Whole. Tail first. "That's impossible!" we
both said with identical pitch in our voices. Remmy was no
help, he and Alice both started to laugh.
"So what do we do now, old man?" I asked him.
He took out his pipe, and after ten minutes of
contemplation asked a serious question. "Have you been
exposed to Sagan's recently?"
"No. There has been no need." I told him.
"Well then, my dear, all we can do is monitor it." he
said simply, then he went to his room and we went on
jamming.
When we left, I sought him out and asked him a
question. "You have no clue, do you?"
"No, Raven, I don't. You have no symptoms. Just take
it easy, please."
I could only answer with "I'll try."
It was a little after Mardi Gras that I again had a spell. I
was able to slip away and get Stephen's eye. My head was
pounding and I was dizzy as all hell. "Well, my dear, you
once again have a white count, and this time your Sagans
seems to be active." he told me after a quick scan.
I looked at him like he had his head on backwards.
"But you are not manifesting. I want to tell Christian."
I looked at him. "Please, Stephen, not yet. We don't
know what is going on." I was willing to beg, but it didn't
get that far.
"I want daily blood samples, and you need to tell
Allison about this." he instructed.
I looked at him. "About what?" I asked.
"Well, dear, Vampires are immune to Sagans due to
their immune systems. You are the exception, a mutation
actually, and it takes raw virus to affect you. The amount
to affect you is always a little more than the last time.
"What seems to be happening is that your Sagans is
changing. If this continues, Vampires may be susceptible
soon. The difference is interesting, though. Much like the
Grimps, it will be tailored to survival."
I was confused. "So then, why is the Sagans picking
me for this?" Once again, he could only look at me
perplexed.
I decided that I needed to talk to my father. The only
thing he could come up with was that the virus always
found a way. He had no idea that I had used the lavender
to mutate Sagans before. The Grimp had needed it to
survive, so I had made it go faster and stronger. Even
shapeshifters were not immune, but Vampires were.
Father never had understood that. I asked Uncle if he had
done any biological changes to us, just to see if that had
been a factor in this. He was as perplexed as I was. Even
among my brethren I had the strongest immune system.
This had come about from my forced exposure to so many
compounds.
I had been at the guild for about ten years after Sky's
birth, but before Isolde and Gareth, when I had been part
of a moving of biological materials. Transporter was out of
the question for this stuff. It had the habit of mutating if
exposed to transport. It was at that most inappropriate time
that Tajani decided to get playful. Sky had yet to tame him,
so the quake was unexpected. The two that were with me
died within milliseconds of exposure. I was on the floor
convulsing when the med team arrived. Only Founder Two
had stopped the possible epidemic. Two hundred and sixty
organisms that were responsible for the destruction of
whole civilizations were loose in my system.
Medical had wanted to breach containment to rescue
me. This was impossible. Founder Two then decided to do
something that had me pissed off for more then a few
thousand years. He forced all the contagion molecules into
my blood stream. That left the area safe and me sick as all
hell. Chris was livid, but it was only him that had kept Sky
from outright killing the founder.
I laid in an insulated room for nearly three months
while my body made antibodies. The medical team knew I
would survive when the first twenty-four hours had passed.
My body after that first exposure though seemed to
understand. I adapted not my Sagans, but an evolutionary
change. After that, I was able to transmute anything that
was a poison or viral based. In time, bacterial substances
would also be able to be transmuted. Once I was well
again and able to deal I was approached by the council as
a whole.
"We wish you to take on an assignment that is purely
voluntary." The Greek god of healing, along with a few
other gods of healing, walked in. "We wish you to go to the
medical ward's containment, and allow yourself to be
exposed to the contents there." they asked of me.
I looked at my father, 'You are kidding right?' I sent.
"No, little one, they are not. We have in our stores
poisons and other things that can kill the gods. If you don't
do the whole plan, then at least help them.'
I felt their silent plea. I looked at the council. "I will
agree to this on one condition. Sky must be finished with
her training and have been gone from here for a century
before I do this."
"Agreed." was all they said.
The next few centuries were like a really bad
hangover. I would do a toxin or what ever, then once I had
recovered I would get the next seven days off. I have no
idea how many exposures I had, but it was a lot. It was
during that time I learned to change my DNA temporarily to
accommodate whatever trait was required for exposure to
be most effective.
At least this had one effect that benefitted my children.
They were born with immunity to so much that childhood
illness was unheard of for at least five generations
removed.
By Easter, I was still feeling a little off, but aside from
that, not too many problems. The new variant of Sagans
didn't need for a person to be recessive or dominant. It
attached itself to the whole of a vampire. We had retrieved
the entire new strain of virus from my system. We were not
sure if we should expose any of the community as a whole
to it or not. This variant did not effect Vampires like it did
normal people. It would, after initial exposure, cause
remanifestation in time of great physical need for survival.
Allison, Stanley, Stephen and myself had come to a
conclusion that this would not get rid of the sun factor
completely. Those like Remmy would get sunburn, but not
burst into flames. It wasn't doing bupkis for my allergy to
garlic, but then again Horus was allergic to olives, so I
could live with that. It would have to be each person's
choice to be exposed or not. The thing that was funny
about the whole thing was it was not viable in the blood.
One who was infected could not transmit it to another. The
virus would adapt to each vampire, making it their own. No
mass infections, no epidemics, just an individual choice.
We decided to wait till the community could be talked to on
the whole.
It was the first of July when the real issue happened. I
had been feeling even more steadily off. I had extorted a
promise from Jade that as long as I kept Stephen informed
she would not tell Chris. Chris had the lavender, but could
not use it well and was more then a little apprehensive
about it. That meant he couldn't use it to see that I wasn't
feeling right.
The first thing Stephen did was to make sure that I
wasn't with child. I wasn't, so that made things easier
theoretically. By the first of August my body hurt. I knew
for the first time what arthritis felt like. Even when I had
aged, my reflexes had just slowed. I never felt the other
pains of aging. I wasn't concerned, and Stephen didn't
understand why there was no sign of problems.
Then one morning after Chris had left, he and Aaron
had gone to scout out a location for a new restaurant in
London, it happened. Bradley had come in for a snack.
That meant fresh bread and strawberry jam I had made the
night before. I was sitting on the couch with my tea when I
looked over at him. That was when the pain hit. I had
experienced pain before and certain types was a daily
thing. This was nearly unbearable though. I fell onto the
floor and went to scream when my voice caught in my
throat. It came out as a howl, literally. I looked at my hand,
but it wasn't a hand, it was a paw.
I felt a hand on my shoulder. 'Gramma, you must
relax!' he spieked. I relaxed all right. I passed out.
I knew I was in V.S. headquarters, but everything was
real fuzzy. I felt really good and didn't care. Bradley was
sitting next to me, his hand holding mine, and wiping my
brow with a cold cloth. I could hear Stanley and Chris just
outside the door. "Dad, this isn't a Sagan's manifestation or
a spell. We checked." Stanley said.
"Well then, what is going on?" Chris was getting upset.
I could feel it. That was when Cassie just coalesced.
Chris looked over his shoulder to me and to her. She
only smiled. "Evolution can be stayed for only so long."
I knew Chris was taken aback when he said
"Evolution?"
He was shaking himself as Stanley asked "Evolution?"
I must have blacked out again. When I woke up, I was
back at the house. I was in the pit and Bradley was there
in wolf form asleep. I was sandwiched between Salem in
tiger form and Bradley's wolf shape. Father, Uncle, Horus,
and Chen were there with Stephen. It was Father who
spoke first. He must have woken early from his nap, or
someone had woken him. "So as you have gotten older
you have changed, getting stronger and adding other
abilities." I heard him say.
"Yes." came Chen's voice. "We at first could only
communicate amongst ourselves." I wanted to call out to
him. To apologize, but I had warn him. Chen never took
me seriously to him I was still the hot headed little sister he
had taught so many centuries ago. "As we got older," he
continued, "we could speak mind to mind to others. We
had been alive for a few thousand years before we learned
to fly. Even now only those that have seen at least three
thousand years are able to fly.
"As we get older, we get stronger. I sleep only a few
hours after sunrise. I do not burn, but I can not leave the
Emerald Empire for very long."
Horus then chose to pipe in. "I sleep only for a few
hours every few days. I was the first to gain immunity to
the sun, but that was my gift. As to the flying thing, I could
never stomach it."
'But a space ship is a whole other subject, isn't it
brother?' I was thinking.
Chen then added what I was truly thinking. "It is
because, dear brother, you are still petrified of heights." I'm
sure Horus gave him that same look he gives me. The
others laughing gave me my confirmation.
"So then," that was Chris, "it is possible she has just
evolved to this point? The question is how and or why
now?"
It was Uncle that spoke next. "When she gave up her
birthright. That is when it started.
"I have been listening. We all know that she went
"elsewhere" for a time that was great."
'Oh, come on uncle, say it, the Guild. I knew that they
were all going to pussy foot around that 'elsewhere'. I
thought.
"But she had found her birthright before she left this
world, not while she was there. Her birthright kept her
natural state in check. When she did not have it, her body
was killing the Sagans. Reverting to her natural state and
course of evolution.
"Her own body knew that it had 'skipped a few
upgrades', to use one of her terms. When she took her
birthright back the evolutionary process had already
started."
Stephen and Father must have both came into the
same idea as they spoke the same thing at the same time.
"That was why the Sagans mutated!" This sent more gales
of laughter through all that were there. All at once though
Chris said to them all, "SSH! She is awake." I heard some
people leaving, and Bradley twitched.
The curtain moved and Chris was there with Stephen,
Father and Uncle. The latter pair stayed only for a few
seconds. Father looked better, but I knew he was more
worried about me then his own health. When they left,
Bradley looked at the remaining two, then climbed carefully
off the bed.
I went to sit up when a wave of dizziness and pain shot
through my body. Stephen was there holding me. "Don't
move, stay still, and the pain will stop." For the first time, I
was in complete agreement. It felt as if I was immersed in
hell, every nerve burned with a fire uniquely its own. Child
birth held nothing on this. I saw Stephen punch a few
numbers on a control that was attached to the IV in my
arm, then I once again passed out.
I woke up to what seemed a replay of my last memory,
thinking it was Deja Vu or a hallucination. That was when
my mind caught up with me. Chris was in a different shirt.
In the vision I had before, he had been wearing the shirt
that he had gone to the business meeting in. Stephen
walked in, and once again Bradley left. I was smart though,
I stayed very still. Stephen smiled. "I told you she would
realize." he said to Chris.
"How long?" I asked.
"Since you had your initial attack?"
"Yes."
"Total real elapsed time thirty four hours."
"It all feels wrong." I told them.
Chris looked at me. "Are you in pain?"
"No." was all I could say, then I realized I couldn't feel
any of my body. I must have had a strange look on my
face.
"It is the compound that is being given to you. Call it
Vampire morphine." I moved my eyes to see a blue bottle
but then realized that it was the liquid that was blue. "We
decided that we didn't have time for a control test, and are
giving to you now."
"What is happening?" I asked them.
They both looked at me with a rather perplexed look.
"You are growing new nerves, and your bone density and
structure is changing."
"Okay, why?" I asked them.
"Well, we will leave the explanations to the expert."
Chris said, and the two exited with all the haste of two men
afraid for their lives. Bradley then padded back in and
changed.
Now I was really confused so much that I must have
worn it on my face. "Gramma, you are developing what
every shapechanger has." I could only sit and listen. "You
know what the difference between me and Dad are
compared to Ryse and Edwin? No? Dad and I are shape
changers, Edwin and Ryse are morphs.
"Morphs become the creature they change into on a
genetic level. A true shape changer has human DNA with
only a marker for each "shape"."
Now I understood why Bradley spent nearly two years
twice a week having two hour lunch breaks with Alison.
The light of understanding must have shown. "I wanted to
know why Dad and I were different from Edwin. So, Allison
and I started finding out why. She knew the genetic stuff, I
knew the anatomical.
"What is happening with you though is you are growing
what Dad and I were born with. That is why it is so painful,
and why Allison has you so drugged up. She says it will be
maybe two more days, then you will be in my care till you
are ready." I was losing the battle to stay awake once
again.
Good to his word about eighty two hours after onset I
was feeling okay. The last twelve hours they had been
steadily reducing the concentration. I was stiff and had
trouble walking. Chris dunked me into the hot tub for a
couple hours, and a warm shower helped. I was still having
a problem moving though. That was when Bradley came
into the kitchen.
"You will need to relearn a lot of things, Gramma. We
will get you started." he told me. He walked me through
many things that were simple. It was as though I had
suffered a stroke. Holding a pencil was hard. By the end of
the week though, I was back to normal. It was then that I
learned the true meaning of thinking yourself into a shape.
Once again Bradley was there to help me.
Shawn had been by the first day and was getting a
good giggle out of it. He didn't mean to hurt my feelings.
Bradley was not pleased, and when Shawn couldn't stop
laughing, he took action. I had to break the two of them
apart. Shawn had bruises and Bradley was untouched.
Shawn apologized, and something passed between them I
had never experienced. They were not communicating on
a telepathic level, but one that was deeper.
'She was not born to it, Ruha. For her, this is hard."
'I'm sorry, Ngwa. I just never thought about it.'
"You don't need to talk about me like I am not here." I
told them. It was then that they both looked like they had
swallowed a fish. Sideways. Their eyes were wide.
"You heard that?" they said simultaneously.
"Yes. What was that?"
"Gramma, you must never let anyone know about what
you heard. That is the old tongue. The language of the skin
changers." I was puzzled. They both sat me down and
began speaking.
"It is older then you, Gramma. It is from when man first
came to this world. Some of the first people wanted to be
at peace with this world. So, a group of them went to a
place where they felt the planet's heart and began fasting.
When the fast was done, she came to them."
"Who?" I asked them.
"Guardian. She isn't a Sagan, she is the Avatar of this
planet. She has a little of everything this world has in her.
She spoke with those first ones. It was agreed that they
would watch over the planet. Keeping man from it, and
they would be blessed. The old blood runs through every
hereditary shape changer. We speak the old tongue and
only those can hear it. Papa John's family was part of the
old pact. We are born knowing that language along with
being able to feel the planet. That is why Dad's methods
for tanning are all natural and produce no pollution that is
hazardous. You have to promise us right now."
I did, giving them my blood oath that I would say
nothing of what I had learned.
It took nearly a month of practicing before I had it down
pat. I was able to change into a few different forms. A wolf,
rat, black asp, jaguar sans spots, and last but not least
house cat. All the animals were black and had blue eyes. I
was unnerved by the change every time, and this is
something that I won't do unless I really, really need to.
Yes it will make getting into places much easier, but it still
feels so inhuman. I had, up until this had happened,
thought of myself as an animal masquerading as man. For
the first time in my life it was true, and I wasn't sure how to
do it. The change is somewhat painful to begin with and
then there is some sensory confusion. Such as looking
over the end of a muzzle.
Moving is something altogether different then anything
I have ever been used to. Salem and I practiced for hours
at a time just teaching me how to move as a cat. I would
go to the slums of third world nations to learn to be a rat.
Animals have language and societies all their own that are
as complex as humans. Chris was unnerved the most by
the snake. He hates them deep down, even though he
would joke about it. To slither and slide, to glide silently
and hunt. Smelling to track is one thing, but having a hard
wired heat and motion sensor is totally creepy.
We did find something that really bothered everyone,
including me. As a snake I am venomous and it is, well,
frightingly potent. I don't know how to feel about this
change in me. I know I am different now, but why, and
what reason will it serve? Mother only knows and she isn't
telling.