The Mantis Continuum - Book Four - 1. Chapter 1 - Thech & Jzuna, Part One

“Come on inside, you two!” called Thech and Jzuna’s mother from the old sun-scorched front deck of their family home. “It’s time for supper!” The cozy little cottage was positioned just outside of town and upstream from where the Hazel Cove Creek emptied into the sea. Thech and Jzuna were building a sandcastle close to the water’s edge.

The woman smiled at her children, strange though they were, as they left their play and headed up the path that led them home. Thech and Jzuna each moved in their own unique manner, and their mother could not have loved the pair more.

The two youngsters did not bear the appearance of human children. Almost six months earlier, when their photonova gland activated, they changed.

It is often the case with Shift youths that they are rejected by their families and cast out. However, Thech and Jzuna’s mother was delighted when it was revealed that her offspring were not only Shifts, but in fact exceptionally rare Biological Shifts.

When Thech and Jzuna were born, their mother gave them the name Mai, and a little over 12 years later, Mai’s photonova gland activated. The child that was once a single individual became a pair of entities.

At the beginning of the change, Mai’s skin started to excrete a thick slime that coated every inch of their body, and a mass began to form on Mai’s chest. It slowly expanded over the next fortnight, until it was impossible for Mai to walk upright or lie down on their back without feeling crushed and having difficulty breathing.

On the morning of the 23rd day after the change began, Mai’s mother awoke to find that the bulbous protuberance had sloughed off Mai’s chest during the night. It lay in a clump beside the body from which it grew, but neither the humanoid form nor the fleshy mound beside it retained even the remotest semblance of Mai.

Over the course of the transition, Mai’s mother was supportive and loving, even though she could not comprehend what was happening to her child. Mai was blessed to have such a compassionate mother. The woman’s determination was strong, and she stayed by her child’s side for those three long weeks of transformation.

At the end, Mai’s mother stood above the two weird forms that lay motionless. She had become comfortable with the mucusy coating on Mai’s skin, and she reached out and placed her palm on the child’s chest where the mound had grown. Tears began to well in her eyes, as she realized their skin was much too cold. Mai seemed fine the whole way through the change, even when they were restricted to their bed, Mai had been upbeat and happy.

Neither of the slime-covered things moved, and for long moments, the woman stared at the two unique forms.

The body from which the mass separated was unrecognizable, did not look like Mai at all. Beneath the goo, its skin had taken on a subtle green tone, but it at least bore a vague resemblance to a human.

However, Mai’s mother had never before seen anything like the great lump. It also appeared to be slightly green, and it was the first thing to move.

Like a single finger poking out, a small digit extended from the mound. It wiggled in the air, as if trying to feel if there was anything around it. Then the thing extended, and a snake-like tendril reached out that was longer than Mai’s mother’s arm. The rest of the slimy blob remained motionless, and as the questing limb came into contact with the humanoid form that was once Mai, the tendril froze.

There was a breathless moment, with Mai’s mother’s eyes fixed on the two entities, but nothing happened.

She waited.

At the top of the fleshy mound, something twitched below its ooze-coated surface. A single huge eye opened. It was larger than a watermelon and not part of a matching set. The lone eye blinked, gazing up at the ceiling, and then it looked over at the humanoid other.

Many more fleshy limbs, like the arms of an octopus, suddenly extended and reached out from the cycloptic mass. Each of the tendrils came into contact with the body and the creature fell still again, but then its one huge eye shifted to look at its mother.

She was gazing at the pair of beings, filled with terror and wonder.

“Mama,” said a squeaky voice that seemed to come from the air all around the woman.

She could not determine the origin of the voice; the creature did not possess a mouth. Its one eye closed, and Mai’s mother was even more surprised, as the creature lifted off the bed. It hovered in the air above the humanoid other who looked nothing like Mai, and it stared down at the motionless figure.

The bubbly voice came again from the mouthless form. “Thech,” it said, “wake up.”

The slimy child-shaped thing on the bed opened its eyes.

Mai’s mother gasped in wonder. Tears streamed down her cheeks.

The tentacled eyeball rotated in the air and gazed at its mother. “Mama,” the chirpy disembodied voice said, “I am your daughter. My name is Jzuna.” She turned her huge eye toward the other figure, who sat up on the bed. “And that’s your son, Thech. Mai is no more, mama, but now we are your children.”

“And I love you!” their mother declared without hesitation. “You are beautiful,” she added in a breathless voice, reaching out for the hovering monstrosity.

Jzuna extended one of her tentacles and wrapped the slimy limb around her mother’s hand.

“I love you, mama, and Thech loves you, too,” Jzuna said in her bright voice.

Thech rose and stood beside the bed. His expression was vacant, and his eyes were rolled up into his head. The boy’s mouth hung open with his jaw sagging. His shoulders were slumped, and his arms were limp at his sides.

His mother stepped up and wrapped her arms around him in a tight hug, even though he was still coated in a thick layer of slime. Thech’s limbs did not move, but he leaned into her.

“Thech?” the children’s mother confirmed, looking at Jzuna.

“Yes, mama,” she replied.

“And, Jzuna?”

“Yes, mama,” her daughter repeated.

“Well, Thech and Jzuna, I love you both.” Her gaze moved from one to the other and back again with awe. “I am now twice the mother,” she declared with tears flowing. “Mai showed me how to be exactly the right parent. Thech and Jzuna, please teach me to do the same for both of you.”

Jzuna was boisterous and energetic. She talked and laughed endlessly, and even though she was a hovering eyeball, she felt prettiest when her mother tied ribbons on her tentacles. The ooze that Jzuna’s skin excreted caused the bows to slip off after a while, but they made her happy.

Thech’s personality was reserved, but his mother could feel his subtle exuberance for life. All that Thech seemed to need was Jzuna. He followed her around with his awkward and lurching walk, rarely reacting to or interacting with anything other than his sister. The two were always together, and as long as they were close, Thech was content. On the rare occasions when they were apart, Thech would start moaning and grunting agitated wordless syllables until he was near enough to Jzuna again.

Besides the uniqueness of her now two children, and the way Jzuna floated, their mother was unsure what else their photonova glands granted them. In those first six months, neither Thech nor Jzuna displayed any gifts like what all other Shifts have. Their mother sometimes worried about her children’s safety, aware that the two were targets for those who hunt Shifts, but the little family of three was happy in their lives together by the seaside stream.

The sun was setting, as Thech and Jzuna left the sandcastle they were building beside the Hazel Cove Creek. The two came up the path toward the cottage, and their mother smiled at them.

“I’ve made your favorite.”

“Nubufish?” Jzuna exclaimed. Her tentacles started quivering in an excited way.

“Yes, indeed,” her mother replied. “Take your brother and get him seated. I’ll bring it right over.” She plated them each a plump crispy fish, and she drizzled a little sauce on top.

She leaned down, planted a kiss on the top of Thech’s slimy head, and wiped off her lips as she asked him, “Do you want my help?”

Thech’s mouth hung wide, and his eyes were still rolled back, but he reached forward with an awkward jerking movement and grabbed ahold of the fish. He raised it toward his gaping maw and began to feed himself.

“Good boy,” his mother said. She chuckled at his enthusiasm as he chomped down his dinner.

Jzuna hovered above her plate of food, focused on it with her one enormous eye, and the fish dematerialized. Her voice emanated from her unique mouthless body. “Mmmm! That was so delicious, mama.”

Thech shoved the rest of his fish into the opening of his mouth, and he chewed for quite a while before swallowing his last bite.

Their mother could not have felt prouder of the two of them.

Before long, it was dark outside, and she helped her unique children into their beds. Because of the slime that coated both of them, Thech took to sleeping in a large basin with a sheet and a pillow. Jzuna, on the other hand, found an old fishing net that she wanted to use as a bed, and her mother draped it above Thech’s basin for her. Every night he slept below his sister, and every morning, their mother washed Thech’s bedding and Jzuna’s net.

The three were happy.

Thech and Jzuna’s mother loved them deeply. She prided herself on her acceptance of others, and she adored having children who were so unique; she celebrated them. Her name was Kynpri.

When Kynpri was a teenager herself, against her parents’ rules, she secretly dated a Shift boy. Theirs was not a love to last, however, because the boy was murdered. It was never determined if a band of Demifae hunters or a Messiah did the horrible deed, but one morning at sunrise, the boy’s headless corpse was found in the village square.

The loss only made young Kynpri more determined to be an ally for all Shifts, and long before she had a child of her own, she began volunteering with the small local division of Unity Between Humans and Shifts in Hazel Cove. The presence of the UBHS was much larger in Teshon City, but Kynpri joined this smaller chapter to do whatever she could in her community.

She could not have been more delighted when it turned out that her own child became a pair of Biological Shifts. Kynpri had perfectly loved Mai, and the woman’s heart only grew when Mai changed. She loved Thech and Jzuna more than she could have imagined.

Since the devastation in the Teshon City underground, and the general acceptance of Shifts becoming part of society, even in the most remote regions, Shifts were now living out in public. Thech and Jzuna’s mother tried to avoid crowds and only brought them into the Hazel Cove town center occasionally, and only early in the morning, but she always made sure they visited the newly opened Shift-owned café, Weirdo Beard-O’s.

“Welcome to Weirdo Beard-O’s!” called a jolly ginger man with a great bushy beard. Then he realized who was entering his establishment. “Well, hello there, Thech and Jzuna. Look at that, you two and your mother are my first customers this morning!” He was beaming at the trio, and his smile was a fissure of sparkling white amid the fiery red of his facial hair.

Thech lumbered away from his mother and over to the counter, leaning against it, and Jzuna floated up next to him. Her voice emanated from the air with enthusiasm. “Thech and I would each like a mistcream latte, please!”

“Right you are,” the man replied with a chuckle. “Comin’ right up.”

“Thank you!” Jzuna squeaked. She and Thech headed outside through a glass door that led to the little shaded courtyard behind the café.

“Lovely day,” the man said to the children’s mother. “And for you?”

Kynpri smiled at him. “Nothing for me, thanks.” She took out the rag that she always kept handy for the inadvertent little messes her children occasionally left behind.

“Oh, no, please!” the red-bearded fellow said quickly, as Kynpri went to wipe up the slime that Thech had left on the side of the counter. “Allow me,” the man continued. “I’ll clean up after him. You save that cloth for when you need it later.” He came right around and wiped away Thech’s slime with a smile shining through his red beard. “Not to worry, I’ve got a whole stack of these hand towels in the back.”

A moment later, he was whistling a merry tune to himself and preparing the two beverages. He placed the steaming mugs onto the countertop.

“Here you are, milady,” he said with a dramatic bow, “two mistcream lattes for the little ones.”

“Thank you for making this wonderful place for Shifts,” Kynpri replied to him.

“With so many fewer Messiahs now,” the man commented, “the world has become a different place. The cultural impact of Shifts coming out and being part of society has been huge. Even though it’s only been a short time since the fall of the Messiah Tower, it has made Teshon City much more welcoming.” He looked proud. “I wanted to do the same thing here. I wanted Shifts,” and he smiled toward the back patio and Kynpri’s unique children, “and Bio-Shifts to know they belong, even way down in our little backwater village.”

She picked up the mugs and said, “I can’t even begin to tell you how much this place means to me and my children.” Kynpri felt a lump rising in her throat.

“You and your two wee’uns are always welcome at Weirdo Beard-O’s,” he replied with a kind smile.

“Thank you. It’s Bivon, right?” She tried to hold back her tears and cleared her throat hard, and the man nodded with a smile.

“Right you are,” Bivon replied.

Kynpri joined her children outside on the patio. “Here you go, Jzuna,” she said, placing one of the drinks onto a small table.

Jzuna was floating by the edge of the patio. The red-bearded owner of the cafe had planted flower bulbs around the perimeter, and Jzuna was admiring the blossoms that were just starting to bloom. She turned and drifted toward her drink, as the children’s mother stepped up to her son.

“Thech, you ready?”

He leaned his head back and his mother poured the other drink into his gaping mouth.

Jzuna hovered beside the table and stared at the mug with her massive single eye, and the beverage began to drain until it vanished completely.

The cup remained.

“Mmmm!” Jzuna’s voice hummed aloud. “Yummy!”

Thech also finished his drink, and he rocked back and forth with a subtle movement that his mother knew was an expression of his joy.

“Those were so good!” Jzuna declared. “Thech loved his, too. Thank you, mama.”

The big jolly barista stepped out into the back area, carrying a plate of cookies, and he exclaimed with a chuckle, “I’m so pleased you’re pleased.” Bivon positioned himself in a small patch of light from the rising sun and added, “Fresh baked!” He held up the platter toward Kynpri. As she took a cookie for each of her children, the man winked at her. He then said to Thech and Jzuna, “Hey, kiddies, watch this.”

Bivon squatted down and held up one hand in front of them. He looked at it in wonder, turning it one way and then the other, so the children could see either side of it. Right before their three eyes, the man’s fingertips started to disappear! Then his hand vanished, and finally the man’s forearm was gone. He looked at the empty space in pseudo-surprise, and in a blink, his hand reappeared.

Thech let out a single grunt of amusement, and Jzuna’s peals of laughter came ringing out from the air all around them. Her tentacles waved in delight.

Then a strange voice came rumbling from the edge of the patio, and the sound of it halted the small group’s enjoyment.

“I need!”