She Who Knows Tomorrow: a sci-fi novella (displaced shadows #1)

IV

Cold air burned Third's lungs as she perched on the roof of the local StretSec building—StretSec being the public security agency, and which was responsible for both resolving crimes and for answering any problem featuring freaks. It was the last thing she could think of to try to find Second—and it would work, it had to work, because Third would end up in a cage nearby Second as the woman and her baby died—

Third focused on taking slow, deep breaths.

The lungs had always been a weak point of hers—of Third's, not of any of the other versions of her that she was aware of—but that was likely from all the spores she'd breathed while destroying Infested. Or so she guessed. Nev would have been the one to know, but Third had always found it healthier to avoid her older sister. The 'god' mods found in some universes reached a point wherein the mods themselves produced the hellverse, because the modifications themselves triggered instincts that made people think of others as threats.

That 'kill' instinct was strongest among biological relatives. Opposite gender was okay; same gender was really bad. Third had some theories as to why, but Nameless were discouraged from being inquisitive. Ultimately, Third had always sought medical treatment from amateurs before she got it from her sister.

She flinched and hoped nobody had seen it. Someone from this somewhen might comment on it; someone from another might helpfully mention it to someone from her universe; and someone from her universe would have to punish her for the breach in composure.

Mistakes could get you Infested. Nobody wanted to face an Infested Nameless.

Third had tracked Second's bio-identity all over town, but she had yet to find the woman herself. Jumpers could hop into another somewhere or somewhen and leave you wondering where in reality they'd gone. As a navigator-class jumper, Second could easily Jump through time and space, but she couldn't hide her bio-identity all that well. Merger-class jumpers had the opposite balance—able to Jump, but far better at hiding bio-identities, which was necessary if you wanted to blend in to some universe or somewhen other than your own. Third—all versions of her—was a merger, though some versions of her were more practiced with it than others.

Being a merger was handy for hanging out on top of a local security building without the scanners picking you up. Third surreptitiously stretched her shoulders.

The StretSec operative currently leaving the building wasn't from this universe.

Third hopped back, reflexively hiding the curiosity that Nameless weren't allowed to display. She checked her surroundings again and dropped to her stomach to elbow-crawl to the edge to peek over. She hadn't noticed any mods in the man, not in the glimpse she'd gotten—but hiding mods was standard, in some universes. Even Janni could do that.

A taxi stopped, the driver calling out a promise to get the operative to his destination fast, for cheap. The operative shook his head and turned away from the street, rubbing his eyes as if he had a headache, the motion letting her see more than the back of his head and recognizing—

TamLin.

Third shoved herself back from the edge, her entire body cold. A TamLin. This universe's StretSec had a TamLin working for them.

Curses ran through her mind. Most sensates wouldn't be able to pick out a single should-be-there bio-identity from a crowd, but most sensates weren't him. Third knew all too well how keen his abilities actually were—though he'd hidden that, in her universe, because otherwise he would've been bound to Nev, who would've then made sure to kill Third before—