Star Law: A Marshal Cole Series

Chapter 28 (e)

"It is generally best to show," said Kintan. "First, the process is always the same. You bond with an Arkon by touch. It will be cool at first and warm against your skin. I will place yours here on the table."

Kintan then placed her Arkon on the table as well. Afterward, she took off her gloves. With one hand, she reached out; palm up to the Arkon till her fingertips touched and the gray blue creature began to flow up her hand and proceeded up her arm. It was fast and only moments later started moving to the neck and face. As it did, it faded from blue gray to the golden skin of the Sertaxian species.

Orion stepped back startled. Her friend was now covered from head to toe but now there was no evidence of it. The Arkon was transparent. "Wow! How does it feel?"

"I feel normal," replied Kintan. "I breath and see normally too. In some ways, the Arkon can extend your senses."

"It can?"In answer to this, Kintan extended her fingers and they lengthened out so that she touched Orion's wrists. "I can feel through the fingers even though it is the Arkon that has extended out to reach you."

"That's amazing!" exclaimed Orion."If you thought was amazing, look at this," said Kintan with a smile.

And with that her face transformed into a mirror image of Orion herself. It was identical in all ways except Kintan was still dressed in her own clothes."

Oh my gosh, you look just like me!" shouted Orion in glee. "Can you sound like me too?"

Sadly, no," replied Kintan. "Only skilled people like my father have been able to get the Arkon to go beyond the surface of the body to affect vocalization. It takes much practice. However, we have seen animals and birds in the wild that seem to do it with ease. It's probably generations of evolution."

"I'd love to be able to do that!"

Kintan continued to mimic Orion's features and pointed to the Arkon. "It's your turn now."

Orion looked at the Arkon sitting on the table in front of her with her brow furrowed. She reached over with her arm extended as far as it would go and let her fingertip touch the gray blob. It flowed up her fingers and up her arm.

"Oh my," she gasped. It wasn't uncomfortable. The temperature conformed to her body immediately. It felt like a breeze flowing over her. Very quickly, she was covered all over. The blue/gray colour of the Arkon took on the colour of her own skin.

"Very good," said Kintan. "It should feel like a second skin."

Orion moved around and indeed, she could not feel or see anything. When she looked at her hand all she saw was her hand.

"How do I get it to what I want?" asked Orion.

"The Arkon symbiotically does what you think," answered Kintan. "For example, if I visualize disappearing..."

Kintan who was still a mirror image of Orion save for the clothes held her hand out. A few seconds later the fingers began to de-materialize. Soon everything began to fade so that you could see only clothing oddly hanging in mid-air.

"You've completely disappeared!" Orion shouted.

Kintan giggled as her friend looked at her amazed.

"As you can see there is one flaw in disappearing," said Kintan.

Orion frowned and then it came to her. "You have to be naked to be completely invisible?"

The girls began shrieking in laughter.

"There is one other thing too," added Kintan. It was then that Orion felt a hand on her shoulder. She could feel the impressions of fingers but there was nothing there.

"Invisible but still present," said Orion.

"Exactly," said Kintan. "The Arkon has some other limitations as well but as you can see people can still bump into you."

Kintan showed her many other things about the symbiotic relationship between Arkon and its host. It could hold form even when the host slept.However, it too needed rest and after three, possibly four days, it resumed its formless blob shape and went dormant. Within a day, it could begin anew its symbiotic connection. A host could break connection too by thought or a tapping behind the ear which seemed to put the Arkon into a sleep mode and then dormant. Apparently, this had been learned by observing how wildlife interacted with the Arkon.

Orion thought about all this as and everything her friend Kintan had taught her. Till now, she had not used the Arkon. However, she was increasingly running out of options in hiding aboard the ship. Her apportation really was only effective if it was from one safe place to another. Materializing in a public area or one monitored by security would get noticed. For this particular piece of legerdemain, she had to be in public as well as invisible.

She slipped off her clothing till completely nude and disposed of the clothing in the recycling. She'd have to nanufacture new apparel later on as she would not be returning to this cabin again. The Arkon was on a table insidea drawstring bag. She emptied the bag and touched the blue/gray blob and it flowed over fingertips. As it did, the hand and arm faded and then became invisible. Soon all of her was gone as the Arkon covered her entirely.

She looked at herself in the mirror and laughed out loud. Her earrings which were inorganic still hung from her invisible ears. She took them out and with the bag, tossed them into recycling. Earrings, old style fillings or non-organic parts could not be changed by the Arkon.

Orion would have preferred to apport while invisible with the Arkon but for whatever reason, the symbiotic connection broke as she transported. This was rather embarrassing the first time as she popped up nude in a cafeteria with no Arkon to hide her. She quickly apparrated back before anyone saw her.

Sadly, with the Arkon she would have to navigate down the corridor to the Central Plaza. Even though she was invisible, it was difficult not to forget she was nude. Plus, it was possible for people to bump into her. It was awkward and sometimes cold.

She finally reached Central Plaza and placed herself in an alcove near the main elevator banks. The entry portal discharged to a large foyer that led to port and starboard corridors. A wall separated the two halls. No one entering the plaza could miss the wall which had a waterfall coming down to a pool and creeping vines rising up and out of sight.

It was on a patch of wall devoid of both vine and running water that Orion imprinted a psychic message than shone in bright gold as if etched in fire. It was the size of two handspans and would be visible for a few days. She hoped Goroshenko would read the encoded message.