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could give you better news, but it is wiser to make sure you are aware and ready for what will come to pass.”
    She let herself cry for a moment before rallying, sucking in air and wiping her cheeks. “Right. You said I had to go and see Effin?”
    “Yes, he was a little perplexed by your readings, so he is going to ask if you will be willing to be fitted with longer-term monitor pods. You will be able to download their results, but they will be subcutaneous.”
    “Under my skin.”
    “If you allow it. The information you are providing has healers buzzing all over the Sector. They don’t know who you are, but they are watching the means by which your body shifts.”
    “What can they gain from it?”
    “They can learn how to regenerate tissue, how to remove scarring without injuring the patient and much, much more.”
    Amly laughed helplessly. “All that and I didn’t feel a thing.”
    “Being able to see the change and transformation in action, so to speak, has made quite a difference. You are copying other bipeds. There are a few other shifters, but they take on one specific aspect. You pull them all in. I am just surprised that you don’t copy talents as well.”
    Amly looked at Keezik and blinked slowly. “Who says that I don’t?”
     

Chapter Six
     
     
    She had dismissed Keezik after her disclosure and closed the door behind him. Amly paced, wondering if she should have told him everything.
    Her first transformation had been a trauma for her. She had been on a school trip to the capitol and she had wandered down the wrong hall. Someone had called out to her and she had taken his hand. His talent for empathy was her first copy. She sent him her confusion, and the man had smiled and led her back to her group saying, “I expect she will be getting a job here one day.”
    It had been in that golden time when the physical talents were still allowed to live low-profile but useful lives in the provinces. The locking up had begun a few years later.
    Her teacher had looked down at her and smiled, “Are you a psychic, Amly?”
    She had shaken her head and sniffled. “I thought he would understand me if I was more like him.”
    Her teacher, Mrs. Wekford, had gone quiet, and later that day, when they were getting ready to go home, the teacher took her aside.
    “Amly, you have to know this now and remember. No one can know that you can copy talents. It is very important. Not even your family. It will be dangerous for you and them. You can still do it, but don’t tell anyone. Okay?”
    With tears in her eyes, Amly had nodded. Her teacher had hugged her.
    “You are not in trouble, and I don’t want you to be. Just be yourself and keep alert. Your instincts can keep you safe if you let them.” Mrs. Wekford smiled and ruffled her hair.
    Amly had always remembered that moment, and she had lived by it, until today.
    Today everything had changed.
    She yawned and took a quick solar shower before she crawled into bed. If sleep were willing, she would embrace it.
     
    A knock at her door got her up, and as she crossed her room, the Masuo crawled upward to cover her in a bodysuit.
    Keezik was standing in her doorway. “It is time for your appointment at the base.”
    She nodded and followed him out the door and down the hall. She took a few steps and noted a strange sensation. She took Keezik’s arm and she jumped backward.
    The creature turned to face her and hissed. “It is too bad. I was just going to give you a little shove. You wouldn’t have felt much. This will be a little more brutal.”
    In her mind, she created a telepathic scream and sent it wide as the scaled beast lunged for her with claws out.
    She dodged back and tried to focus. The yellow-scaled being was moving faster than she was. That had to stop.
    Amly slid sideways, ducked under the claws and brought her fist up and under the blunt jawline with as much force as she could muster.
    The head snapped back and the body dropped to the ground in a