Brian Brookwell His Merwife and othe Metamorphic Fantasies

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was still on the rock.
"You spend the whole day there?" he called.
"Don't be silly," she replied. "The sun's too hot in the middle of the
day. Besides how could I get anything done around here if I spent all my time
in the sun?"
"I doubt you could spend any more time in the sun if you were a lizard
and absolutely had to," he grinned.
There was a strange sparkling glow in the air that surrounded his wife.
Bill didn't see it because he'd already entered the house to start supper.
When he finished the light meal, he walked out their basement walkout to call
Trish.
"Trish, sup..." was as far as he got. His wife would definitely be able
to spend more time in the sun now.
* * * *
"Other sky-food uses."
"Not right, sky-food."
"Home must."
--------
CHAPTER 7
Pretty as a Peacock
Crystal was waiting. This was her first big date! And with an older
boy, too. He said they'd be going dancing and to a movie and everything!
The waiting was a killer ... as waiting so often is. A full two hours
before he was to pick her up, Crystal had started her preparations. Sure her
older sister said to let him wait but what did she know? She hadn't a date in
months maybe. At least none Crystal knew about. After trying on a dozen
outfits, she settled on a blue dress. Her father smiled a funny half-smile.
When she pressed for what was wrong, he just shook his head.
"Nothing," he said quietly. "Just my memories of a younger time."
Crystal didn't have time to enquire and decided to get out of the heat
of the house. The breeze of her passage through the air as she swung
back-and-forth was pleasant. She imagined all the wonderful times ahead in the
evening.
* * * *
She was suddenly brought awake by a strange collection of glowing
crystals around her. They seemed to be trying to say something but she
couldn't quite make it out.
"T-ha-ark," they announced again. What could it mean? Crystal stopped
swinging as the doorbell rang. "Suh-aye," they whispered again. Crystal didn't
have time for whispering fireflies. Her date was here.
"She's outside on the swing," she heard her father announce. "Pretty as
a peacock!" He completed proudly.
Crystal watched as the fireflies became brighter and brighter. She felt
strange, very strange. Maybe she was ill? Not on her first date surely. When
she caught a glimpse of her arm though, she realized something decidedly odd
was happening. She was sprouting feathers! This couldn't be happening to her,
not on her first date! Looking down she discovered a long flowing iridescent
green tail and birds feet and claws.
"Help!" she tried to shout. All that came out was a bird-like croaking
sound.
* * * *
"Ta-a-lk" whispered the fireflies again.
--------
CHAPTER 8
Silly
"You said it was my turn to get supper," Kenny protested as he
disentangled himself from his new wife. They'd spent the day in their
apartment playing around, joking with each other (and, yes, there'd been
plenty of other 'pastimes' as well). He quickly donned a housecoat and strode
into the kitchen to prepare one of his favorite dishes "Sausage and Cheese
Omelets".
His young wife, Mary-Jean lay for a moment staring at the vacant space
where he'd been only moments before. Spying a long feather stuck in one of her
hats, she got up quietly. Perhaps the games weren't quite over yet. On tiptoe,
she quietly made her way to the back of the intent chef standing by their
stove. Kenny, intent on showing that he too could cook, didn't hear her
approach. Quietly she tickled him with the end of the feather. At first, he
did nothing but brush away the "fly". Then he realized this fly was far too
persistent.
Turning suddenly he caught her about the waist. "Caught you!" He led
her in a romping dance with no music. An insistent pop drew his attention to
the stove. Running to the omelet, now ruined on the skillet, he smiled "Oh you
silly sausage! I've burned our breakfast!"
--------
CHAPTER 9
Too Slow
"Ms. Hiicha," one of the technicians beckoned her to his console.
"We've a problem."
"What kind of problem?" she snapped.
The morning had been a complete disaster. The demonstration for that
mining company big-wig had been a fiasco. Julia, at the front desk, was now
part of her desk furniture in some unfathomable way. She was still alive, of
course, and in no immediate danger. But the deal had collapsed before it had
even gotten to the samples they'd so carefully extracted from the other world.
And now there were these strange reports of other people changed in impossible
way.
"The portal," he waved in the direction of their gateway. "The
residuals aren't dissipating."
After each time a portal was used, there was a slight latent energy
that remained. It was a signature from the other universe they'd tapped into.
It had always dissipated in a few hours.
"How strong?" she frowned.
"Still as strong as when we shut it down, give or take a little.
Something's feeding the residuals from this side or, maybe, the other."
"Find out!" she shook her head. Why did she always have to tell them
what to do. "If it's this side, we can stop it and close the portal
completely. Otherwise, we'll have to re-open." She stomped back to her office
and slammed the door. The technician shrugged and called a huddle with his
colleagues.
A few minutes later, he burst into her office. Plainly, something
unexpected was going on. "Now what?"
"The residuals, they're growing!"
Now that was impossible! There was no way the portal could re-open
without energy from this side.
"Full containment!" she ordered. He ran from her office and began to
adjust the controls by the portal. Containment would put the gateway, its
controlling equipment and the spherical chamber that housed them slightly out [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

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