Govern (2 page)

His eyes blinked and opened. “I can’t make up my mind.”

She laughed. “Gaze has handed you over. I am Govern, and I am here to take you to your next assignment. Your presence is requested on Gah-tosh.”

His features shifted into something approaching a dignified face. “Oh, I see.”

“Ambassador Wikkio, please exit the pod. You need to brief yourself on your new assignment.”

He extended his hand, and she took it before she thought twice. The moment her hand made contact with his, he straightened and his features took on an elegant and very attractive cast.

“Govern. I have heard good things about the transport project. Thank you for your hospitality.” His features continued to sharpen and become more handsome with every passing moment.

Govern shook her head. “What is going on with your features? You are even getting taller.”

He stepped free of the pod and towered above her. “You had best rein in your fantasies, Govern. I barely know you.”

She jerked her hand back, and his transformation ceased. “What the hell is going on?”

“Allow me to check the files, and I will tell you all you need to know.”

Leo kept her snarl to herself but headed up the steps to the next level where the guest quarters were kept. The com-room door opened as she approached. “There is a com in your room, but this one has the encoded channels. Even I can’t listen in.”

“This is your ship. I do not expect you to close your senses for my convenience.”

He settled in at the desk and quickly entered his code in. Data streamed over the page, and he stared raptly at it. His features shifted again, but this time they were distinctly less human.

“You are becoming one of the Gah-tosh.”

“Nearly. It will help me to get into their mindset. My Guardian designation is Beholder, if that gives you a clue as to my talent.” His words were said with a twist to lips that were surprisingly lizard-like.

She narrowed her eyes. “In your most recent experience, you were fine until the population suddenly thought you weren’t on their side. What made you change?”

“I received a missive that I had been waiting for. I lost my composure for a moment and my face shifted. The people were sensitive to differences, and then I was in prison until Gaze retrieved me.”

“She said you were muddled when she brought you on board.”

He grimaced. “She wasn’t looking at me, and her ship surrounded me. Two minds that barely registered my presence were a little too much for me. I couldn’t think, couldn’t make a decision because neither mind gave me something to hold on to.”

“So, you need more of an anchor?”

“It helps. My body takes its shape in two ways. The first is the minds of those around me and the second is my own desires and focus.” He turned to her and smiled with his features in a reptilian cast.

“That is a little disturbing.”

“What is disturbing is the wardrobe that I need for all these different shapes. I don’t suppose that there is a chance of stopping to get some appropriate clothing?”

She was stunned. He stood up, and he had shrunk by three feet. His suit bagged at the knees.

“I think we can make a stop at the outer station to get you something a little more…appropriate for your station.”

He grimaced. “The only thing that remains fitting are my shoes. I do love Masuo, but they are hard to find out here.”

“I see. Are you going to look like that for long?”

“Well, I would like to gather a few more clothing options if it is possible.” He looked hopeful, and he blinked his huge green eyes at her.

“It is possible. We can place an advance order and get it picked up by pod if we have to. Will you let
Gold
take some measurements?”

“Of course. Will you help me change into common shapes?”

“Sure. It sounds like fun. I thought you could do it yourself though.”

“I can, but not in quick succession. The change I experienced when you released me from the pod was…unusual.”

Leo smirked. “You don’t say. I had forgotten all about those images of gods and heroes until you changed.”

He smiled, and there was a pleased and knowing look in his eyes. “Gods and heroes, huh? That is a first for me.”

She blushed but jerked her head toward the command deck. “Come on, short stuff. We will get you measured, and if you are hungry, I will show you where the food hides.”

He sighed and stomped after her.

On the command deck, Leo asked
Gold
to produce a scanning disk. The pad slid out of the floor and a column of light formed.

The ambassador stepped into the light and nodded. “I sent a list to your console, if you can read them out and picture the shape of the species in your mind, it would help things considerably.”

Leo looked down at the list and snickered. “They are arranged in order of height?”

“Starting with the smallest.”

She shook her head. “
Gold
, take a snapshot of each of his forms and all the measurements, please. We will forward the information and get a new wardrobe for the good ambassador.”

“Eykanyo.”

“What?”

“My name is Eykanyo. Ambassador makes me feel old.” He winked his lizard-like eye.

The
Gold Fairy
chimed that she was ready.

“All right. Minski.” She looked at the image and watched him change into a small pixie-like figure. A flash of light took place when Gold had his measurements.

“Celaclon.” He changed into a slightly larger rocky figure.

She worked her way up the species scale until he was past the standard forms and into the species between seven and nine feet tall.

“Lorzidal.” She sighed with relief. Twenty-seven different shapes and each one was going to have a new uniform appropriate to the species. His wardrobe was going to dwarf her five skin-tight suits.

He loomed over her in his Lorzidal form. At nine feet seven inches tall, he took up a lot of space. Eykanyo stepped off the pad, and his suit creaked ominously.

“If you would assist in my return to a smaller form, I would be most grateful.” He extended his huge taloned hand to her.

She gingerly took his hand in hers. “Tosh.”

He shrunk back to the form he had taken earlier. “Thank you. It is always easier with help.”

“You are most welcome. Now,
Gold
will take the measurements and select appropriate styles for you. When we swing past the first station, we will be able to catch the clothing if we are very careful.”

“Can you be that accurate?” He was following her down the hall toward the kitchen.

“I can’t, but she can. Come on, I will find you some food that a Tosh can eat.”

“That is appreciated, but I can eat anything. My inner biology remains the same.”

“Good. Now, why can you change your body? I had
Gold
do some quick research on your kind when we were playing shape-shift. Your kind can only change faces as a rule.”

He grinned and his serpentine tongue flicked out.

“Oh, do not do that.”

“Apologies.”

“It is all right. It is simply disturbing.” She smiled and prepped two meals. Stasis always made her hungry, so it was natural to her that he might be in the same situation.

He asked her a strange question. “So, what do you do in your spare time?”

Eykanyo was pouring tea as she turned to deliver their meals.

“Um, that is a good question. I have always been fond of mythology, so I tend to read as much of the myths and legends of other races as they are willing to share. I also enjoy watching artistic displays.”

“Fascinating. I always thought that you and yours would be devoted to scientific pursuits.” He started on his meal with good appetite.

“No, we left those to the scientists who had an interest in them. We simply wanted to recover from our genetic maladies.”

He gave her a look of amazement. “You are ill?”

“Some days. I do not have a full cure, but I have a solid treatment plan that my people couldn’t create, so I am fairly pleased with how things have turned out.”

He spoke between neat bites of the goulash she had heated. “Do you ever regret coming out into the stars?”

She blinked, “You know an awful lot about my kind and this project.”

“Call it a point of interest. I am always interested in the changes that the Nyal Imperium is making in projects and policies. Your project was so well hidden that it took me months of searching to find you all.”

“You looked for us?”

“One of you in particular. I was on Yaccaro and had a portrait painted. The image was of my destined mate and in the background there was this ship.”

With her lunch under her, wafting the scent of herbs and pasta to her nose, she felt heat creep through her, starting at her feet and working upward. “A ship?”

“Not a ship. This ship, and you were the woman in my arms.”

She tapped her fingers on the table. “What was I wearing?”

“My hands.” He propped his head on his chin and looked at her through heavily lidded eyes.

Her cheeks caught fire. “Not looking like that, they weren’t.”

“No, I was wearing a form similar to that one you had me in when I exited the sleep pod.”

She tried not looking at her peculiar guest as she finished her meal and sipped at her tea. “How strange.”

“Even stranger, I have heard since that you have one of your own portraits. Who is on your image of the ideal mate?”

She mumbled into her mug.

“What?”

“You can’t make out his face. He is wearing a signet ring and that is all that you can truly see.”

Eykanyo pulled a ring out from a cord around his neck. “Like this?”

“Something like that.” Her heart flipped as the distinctive mark was right there in front of her. He was meant to be hers, so what was she going to do about it?

His guise as a Tosh made up her mind for her. She had no interest in jumping his scaly body. One day after their first conversation, he was trying on clothing from the pod that
Gold
had snatched out of space and delivered to him. To her surprise, there was a packet inside marked Govern, as well.

Makeup in brown, black and white, designed for human skin. “What is this for?”

“Gah-tosh women do not leave their faces uncovered. They put on the thick makeup to hide their expressions.” Eykanyo twisted his lizard lips in a smile.

“And since I have been ordered into duty as your bodyguard…I have to cover up.” She sighed.

“Correct. When do we land?”

She wrinkled her nose. “In two hours. Do you know what pattern I am supposed to use for this stuff?”

“There are rank markings and class designations. Would you like assistance?”

“You would put makeup on me?” She arched her brows in surprise.

“Of course. I would also arrange your hair appropriately. As my bodyguard, you will be representing not only myself, but the Nyal Imperium.”

Leo sighed. “Fine.”

“Excellent. We should adjourn to either your quarters or the kitchen. I will need to stand behind you to arrange your hair.”

She wrinkled her nose. “My room then. I have a dressing table and a stool. It isn’t used much, but it will allow you access.”

“Good. Let us get to it. Your hair first, I think. We don’t want to mar the makeup.”

Shrugging, she led the way with her makeup kit tucked under one arm.

Her door opened as she approached. “These are my quarters.”

“Hm. I expected them to be more lavish, far less utilitarian.”

Leo wanted to smack him. “They are fine for my purposes.”

She walked over to the dressing table, pulled out her brush and hairpins and sat facing the mirror.

Eykanyo grew a little taller than he had been and slimmed his hands down to fingers of normal density and not the thick sausages that he had been using. He unravelled her hair, brushed it up from the bottom until the heavy mass was rippling loose down her shoulders.

He brushed her hair smooth, gathered a forward chunk and tied it into a tail. He moved back on her scalp a few inches and did the same thing again until she had a ridge of hair running across the centre of her skull. It pulled the attention to her cheekbones and made her look a little more skeletal than she was used to. She really needed to put on a little weight.

“Excellent, now turn and face me.”

She pivoted on the stool, and he smiled, his features slipping into something a bit more human. He opened the makeup kit, grabbed a brush and set to work.

“I am giving you military rank markings as well as some scholar marks. The effect will be striking, if not what you are used to.”

She sat still as he painted her face, right down the line of her jaw but nothing beyond. It took him twenty minutes to get her paint just so.

“All right. That should do it. You have been given Flight Master rank and scholarly details. It should be enough for them to overlook your soft skin.”

He stepped back and resumed is Tosh features.

Leo turned and gasped at the image in her mirror.

White, mahogany and black stripes were out in glossy formations. Her eyes looked huge, and the hairstyle made it appear that instead of hair she had scales and plates on her head. She committed the look to memory. It was going to be one for the books.

A chime from her
Fairy
and it was time to settle into the command chair. “Time to land. Hopefully
Gold
has obtained landing clearance.”

He offered her his hand, and she let him help her to her feet. He released her hand slowly, almost reluctantly.

Shrugging, she released his hand and strode out of her quarters to her station.

“
Gold
, do we have clearance?”

A bright chime rang through the room.

“Do you always communicate through sound?” Eykanyo explored and dropped the seat against the wall into a position that would allow him to strap in for the landing.

“Generally. If
Gold
wished to speak, she would, but we both get along well with the chimes, bells and buzzers.”

“So, there is a psychological component to it.” He nodded wisely.