The Mantis Synchronicity - Book Five - 12. Chapter 12 - The First Shifts

Abernathy closed the door to Olona’s shop. “I hear you are skilled at using machines.”

“I am,” she replied. “What can I do for you?”

Abernathy began to give her the explanation he had prepared for when she asked. “I have a place down by the waterfront.”

“Oooh, nice,” Olona replied.

“Yes, it would be, but I’m struggling with an infestation of wharf rats. Do you have a trap or a weapon you could set me up with?”

Olona raised an inquisitive eyebrow. “A weapon would require you to do the deed yourself. A trap would just let you deal with their bodies. Do you have a preference?”

Abernathy was hoping she would ask that question. “They’ve destroyed a lot of my things, and I’m at the point where I’d like to get revenge myself, personally.” He may have been talking about rats, but he was thinking about Shifts.

“Alright, let’s set you up with a weapon. Here’s one of my own design. I based it on a Shift’s power.”

Filthy Shift-friend! Abernathy thought to himself, but he said aloud, “How interesting, what does it do?”

“This one delivers a concentrated heat beam. Allow me to demonstrate.” Olona waved him toward a backdoor leading to a little concrete courtyard behind her shop. A target was set up against the far wall, and Olona took aim. An orange beam flashed, and a little hole was suddenly smoking in the target. “Easy to aim, easy to fire, quick reload, and temperature-regulated,” Olona stated. “Now, where do you want it installed?”

“Installed?” Abernathy repeated.

“Yeah, installed.” Olona extended her arm, removed a small plate of false skin, and multiple machines raised out of the opening and shifted around her wrist. “I recommend getting this weapon either shoulder-mounted, or installed in your temple next to your eye.”

Abernathy had not understood how Organic Mechanics work before visiting Olona’s shop, and he did not like the idea of what she was proposing. He just thought she was good with machines, and by default, weapons, but Olona was talking about messing with his body.

Olona was more clever than Abernathy could have ever expected, and she read his body language. “It doesn’t hurt,” she reassured him, “but if what I’m offering is too permanent, maybe you should check in with the vermin control group. I think they’re located at the border of the Spritehood.”

Abernathy wanted something to make killing Shifts easier, and although he had not intended on leaving Olona’s shop with an implant, he was determined to slaughter Shifts. “No, no, I just didn’t realize how invasive your procedure was. I want the weapon.”

“Sounds good, let’s head back inside and settle up, and I’ll get right to it.” Olona waved him back inside. “Do you know where you want me to put it?”

“In the side of my head seems a bit extreme,” Abernathy replied, “so I guess the shoulder.”

“Head machines aren’t bad,” Olona declared, and a small delicate device appeared from her forehead and covered one of her eyes. It then retracted.

“Shoulder, I think,” Abernathy responded.

“As you wish.” Olona took his payment, settled him in an exam chair, and began taking the required components out of several drawers. “So, rats, huh?”

“Yes,” Abernathy replied, “you wouldn’t believe the size of them.”

“If you’ve been looking for a weapon, they must be monsters.”

How true you are, he thought. Shifts are indeed monsters. “Who is the Shift whose powers inspired this weapon?”

Olona was assembling the device and said, “A woman who lives here in Shifton. She… oh no!” Olona looked up at Abernathy. “This secondary coupling is faulty. I’ll need to make another.” She set about putting together the replacement part.

“What other Shift powers have you mimicked with your machines?” he asked.

“Quite a few,” Olona replied. She was very focused on her task.

“The variety of Shift powers is…” Abernathy paused, looking for a non-offensive word for what he thought was disgusting and unnatural, “quite astounding.”

“Uh-huh,” Olona mumbled as she fit the tiny pieces together.

Abernathy continued casually conversing. “There have been so many different Shift powers over the years. Two-hundred-fifty years, right?”

Olona was still looking down at the machine that was coming together on the table in front of her. “Two-hundred-fifty-two years now, isn’t it?”

“Oh, I think you might be right,” Abernathy stated. He turned away from her and rolled his eyes. Bleeding Shift-lover! “I wonder what the first powers were,” he continued in his pseudo-cordial tone. “I wonder what that first day was like, when everything changed.”✪