Pay Me, Bug!

Chapter 26

WHEREIN Our Hero Undergoes a Transformation

Ebur Tosk arrived at the Fool's Errand carrying nothing but two bags: one for his clothing and medicine, and one for the tools of his trade. The clothing he stashed in his cabin, the medicine in the medibay, and the equipment he handed off to Velis' people. He had four receptors with him, which were promptly examined in order to find the best way to hide them.

He was greeted with hearty enthusiasm by the crew and polite aversion by their passengers. The crew knew him, and they were quite happy to associate with him (when he was on his medication), but the passengers--all Alliance government officials--didn't trust rogue telepaths. The only officially recognized telepathic organization in Alliance space was the Order of Charlemagne, and they didn't associate with criminals.

The Fool's Errand left Tyrelos Station as soon as Velis received approval from Alef. Morgan, now familiar with the sensors, had no difficulty guiding them out of the proto-ring. After that it was a matter of waiting for them to get far enough out of the system to safely make the jump to tach.

And, of course, to anticipate and plan for unwanted attention.

Grif was in the Wardroom, staring out through the now-transparent panoramic viewport when Bennet came in carrying a digital slate.

"How attached are you to your appearance?" Bennet asked Grif.

Grif frowned. "Moderately?"

"Well I've had my people come up with new physical and DNA profiles for you," Bennet said. "It won't be permanent, but while it lasts the Radiant Throne won't know who the hell you are. You won't match any of your current DNA records. I assume they have DNA samples of you somewhere."

"Safe assumption," Grif said. "Tell me more. What do you mean 'while it lasts?'"

Bennet shrugged. "The procedure isn't permanent. We don't completely replace your DNA, just the types of DNA that are normally collected by law enforcement. It takes a while for your body to notice, but as soon as it does it’ll replace the artificial chains with your real genetic code. And of course if they decided to do something invasive they'd probably bypass all our hard work and find your real DNA immediately."

"Comforting," Grif said.

"Yeah," Bennet agreed. "The good news is, that's the hard part. Altering your appearance is easy. They won't even be able to detect a surgical procedure. I've got a list of recommended changes for you and your crew, if you're interested."

"I am," Grif said.

Bennet handed Grif the slate. Staring at the screen, he saw the names of crew. Tapping each name in turn, he saw a before and "projected after" image of each.

"You're making Amys a blonde," Grif said. "You're going to pay for that. She's incredibly vain about her hair."

"That's why she's going to be a blonde," Bennet said. "With extremely short hair."

"And Cutter!" Grif exclaimed. "No scars! He's almost attractive."

"We didn't actually do too much to his appearance," Bennet said. "We just took the scars away."

"He's going to want them back, after."

"Why?" Bennet asked.

Grif shrugged. "I don’t actually know. I think he likes them. He’s a real doctor, you know; he could get rid of them himself, if he really wanted to. Cyrus will still stand out. I guess you can't make him a foot and a half shorter?"

Bennet laughed. "Not on a temporary basis," he said. "But look at yours. I think you'll appreciate it."

Grif tapped his name and examined the after picture.