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Colin had paced around in his room several times, and checked the clock at least five times already. Finally, he decided to trust his gut feelings and dialed the number.

Deep in Eagle's Nest, Sky Six-Killer shuffles papers.  The phone in her blandly furnished office rings, and she answers with the lugubrious tone of a federal worker who's got a stack of reports to review and file when she'd rather be making a HALO jump into an ultraterrorist base.  She answers not with her name or with her place of work but with the last four digits of her phone number--because that's how they do things to keep outsiders from verifying who does and who doesn't work for the NSA.

Colin is taken a little aback.

"Sky? It's Colin. Have you got a minute?"

Sky's voice warms.  "Colin.  Good to hear from you.  How is everything?"  And then, because he doesn't call just to chit-chat, she asks, "Is everything all right?"

Colin reflexively rubs the new tattoo on his neck.

"Yes, everything is all right, thank you. The usual routine. I didn't mean to disturb you at work, but I have a sort of peculiar question, and I think you're the only one who can help me. Before I ask you, though, I have to ask you if I can speak freely. I mean, is this call being recorded or anything? It's something... private."

Sky seems intrigued.  "I'll call you back."  She does.  In a few minutes a call comes in for Colin from an unlisted number, and now he can hear a breeze whistling across a phone receiver and the faint roll of tires over gravel.  "Go ahead," she says.  "The boys here know better than to tap my phone, but from time to time Washington asks them to monitor our work calls for security purposes.  The phone I'm using now is about as secure as a phone can be.

"You're not doing anything illegal, are you?"  It's as if she's asking exclusively out of curiosity:  she offers not a hint of disapproval.

"Thank you, Sky. And no, no more than usual. No, I need a private conversation because this is not about me, it's about a friend of mine, that just got here in America, so there might be trouble, and the last thing I want is to cause him trouble. He'd like to learn more about himself, and I'm trying to help him. You see, some years ago, he found this strange object that could change shape according to his will. Then, after a while,  the object disappeared, and he could suddenly change shape himself. And if I'm interpreting correctly a vision I head, that thing was not an object, but a... an extra-terrestrial life form."

He pauses for a moment, to properly convey the enormity of what he just said.

Sky pauses, too, and when she answers, there's a hint of caution in her voice.  "May I ask why you contacted me?"

Colin scratches his head.

"Uhm, well, you have friends in Eagle Force, and you work for the government in a base not far from the Area 51. I figured that if you don't know anything about aliens, no one else I know does."

Colin sounds concerned.

"Why? I shouldn't have called? Don't tell me anything if it might cause you trouble."

Then he sounds even more concerned.

"I trust you, Sky. There won't be men in black looking for my friend tomorrow, right?"

She seems to smother a soft laugh against her hand.


"Colin, I would never send the Advanced Sciences Division after you, but generally speaking, they're not the bad guys.  They only dress badly."

She sounds more serious.  "I'm afraid I've never heard of anything like your friend.  There are aliens on this planet, and some of them are shape changers.  But their abilities are innate, and they don't inhabit others.

"Are you worried about him for a specific reason?  Is something happening to him?"

Feeling reassured, Colin goes on.

"Not at all. He is very comfortable with his situation, Actually, he didn't connect the things until recently. This being in him is sentient. At least, it's got a soul. Just don't ask me how I know, it's complicated even for me. It can't communicate with him though. I think it's because it's a child. It gives me this impression of being childlike. If my vision is right, he's also among the few survivors of his planet. I saw a planet in ruins, and this lone being crawling out of the rubble and jumping to the stars. It was so sad. I think it stays with friend because he made it feel protected. It tries to emulate him, and probably to change his shape to emulate his desires. No, I don't think my friend is in any danger. He'd just like to know more about his friend."

"Poor kid."  She sounds oddly, deeply sympathetic--but not with Rhys.  "Growing up alone and alien--that's a raw deal.

"Someone I know, someone who's like family to me, might know more about your friend's--"  She pauses and has to choose a word.  "--symbiote.  Maybe he'll be able to communicate with it.  Do you think your friend might talk to us?"

Colin hesitates. "Sky, I've seen tons of bad movies. Can you reassure me that by getting your friend here to talk we won't be stirring something that could potentially lead to imprisonment and vivisection?"

On the other end of the line, in the Eagle's Nest parking lot, Sky purses her lips over the irony.  "We're aliens," she says after a considered pause.  "Well, we're one-and-a-half aliens.  We have a vested interest in obstructing any national policy of alien vivisection."

Colin isn't sure he heard well.

"What?!"

Then he remembers the threads in Sky's aura. Some seemed to reach into space.

"God and Great Spirit."

He takes a seat on his bed.

"So when you asked me why I called you, you thought I knew... No, I had no idea. And the faces... You're a shapechanger too."

For a moment, he is speechless.

"Wow. I'm sorry. I mean, I probably said all sort of stupid things."

"No," she reassures him.  "But what's this about faces?  What faces?"

"You have a very peculiar aura. It's made of ribbons of light. They sometimes seem to take the shape of faces."

"Well, that's creepy," Sky says, "but what does a normal aura look like?  What does your friend's aura look like?"  Why she's never asked her husband these questions is a mystery.  Or maybe she has asked him, but he's given her one of his chronically vague answers.  Maybe Colin is just too young to know better.

"It's not creepy at all. It's really beautiful. Tell you what, I'll draw it for you. I'm better with a pencil than with words. I'll make a drawing of what my friend's friend looks like in a soul place."

He catches himself.

"I mean, of what its self image looks like. I think that's how it works."

Sky never runs out of questions.  Never.  "What's a soul place?  And what's this about self-image?  Is an aura just a reflection of how we perceive ourselves?"

Six years.  Six years she's been married, and one of the things she's learned to put up with--because in all marriages, no matter how passionate or idyllic, there's something you have to learn to put up with--is that she never gets a straight answer to a question about spiritual metaphysics.  Colin is suddenly what those in the business would call an exploitable asset.

"No, wait, it's more complicated. And it's not like you can fully trust my answer, it's all rather new to me too. The aura is a quality of a soul. For example, when I look at your father, I can see the Hulk being kept in check. It's part of what he is, something that shapes him. You can tell good people this way, because their auras are really bright. Not everyone's aura have such a definite shape. It also shows connections between things. If you love someone, when you're near him you aura probably shows it. There are a lot of factors. Aura is more reliable than appearance, but it can be misleading too.
A soul place, is how I call a place in the spiritual realm. You could call it a shared dream. I recently found I can design such places, and summon people to them too, if they're willing. They're very useful to help people deal with their problems. At the time I didn't know, but the first time I entered one was to help a girl who had been abused, and had shut herself inside her mind. Since people are not physically there, they appear in this soul places as the image they have of themselves. Or so I think. When I called my friend into one of these places (don't ask me why, it'd be a long story), an image of his friend appeared too, mimicking everything he did."

"How interesting."  She sounds like she was raised by a physicist.  "So what you see in the soul place is different from an aura.  Is that right?

"If we get the opportunity, I'd appreciate it if you'd describe to me what my friend looks like, how we're different.  I've always been curious about that."

"Yes. What you see in a soul place is more mundane. It takes my sight to see auras."


"Sure. No problem."

He thinks about the whole situation.

"I'll talk to my friend. I see no problem in just a talk, but he might see it differently. What should I tell him about you?"

"We're aliens.  We're shape changers.  We're very discreet.

"My friend specializes in exploring alien cultures, and I think, like all of my father's species, he's much older than he lets on.  It's a vast universe, but if anyone knows anything about your friend's symbiote, it'll be Eric."

"Ok. Very well. I'll let you know. At the very least, I should be able to send you a drawing of it."

He sighs.

"Thank you, Sky."

"It's really no problem, Colin.  Call me anytime you need help.

"Have you talked to your mother about coming out to see us over spring or summer break?"

Colin snickers. "I've talked about it too often, and she's banned the topic for a while. My plan was to arrange things so Chris might accidentally find a very good occasion to take her to a wonderful place for spring break. It takes more work though."

"I'd be happy to come and talk to her if you think she's got misgivings about sending you away with perfect strangers.  Of course Kevin knows us pretty well.  He can vouch for us, too, I think.

"I'd really like to introduce you to Bobby's grandfather--and show you Eagle's Nest.  I understand you have a role to fill in the family pantheon, but it's my duty as the objective outsider to make sure you know all your options."

"It's not that. Bobby kind of saved my life. And Kevin and Chris are good friends, he knows you are trustworthy. No, it's just that it's been just me and her for so long, we're a little lost without each other. She was like this when I had to leave for scouting camps as well."

The flow of memories silences him for a moment.

"Besides, are you sure you know what you're running into? Trouble follows me closely." he says, chuckling.


"I'd love to see Eagle's Nest. Is there the chance to meet some big name superhero? That would turn Donnie green with envy. And... I can't wait to meet the Q'nra. You see, we Spirit Dancers tend to disappear from history. People see us according to their needs. Bobby's grandfather is probably the only one who remembers who came before me."

"We like trouble.  We live for trouble.  The whole family lives for trouble.  Bring it on."


Sky feigns hurt feelings.  "But I am a big-name superhero."  She relents, smilling.  "I'm sure we can find some autographs.

"As for Grandpa, he'll tell you about your predecessor if he thinks you need to know.  That used to frustrate me, but I've learned to trust his unique sense of causality."

"I've been taking a crash course in frustration in the last few months. Things are beginning to make sense, so it's only fair someone turns my world inside out again."

He catches something she said and goes with it.

"Did you have a superhero name?"

Sky laughs.  "Grandpa has a talent for it, but you have a different perspective than I do.  Maybe it'll all make sense to you when you meet him."


She winces.  "I did when I was on Omega Squad, but I no longer use it.  It never makes sense to give a shape changer a public identity anyway.  All it's good for is selling bobble-head dolls."

"You didn't like it, did you?" Colin says conspiratorially.

"It was not a name I would have chosen for myself," Sky says with exaggerated equanimity.

"I don't suppose you and your friends have come up with code names for yourselves."

"Not since Velocity... resigned. I think they will, sooner or later. I've had some glimpses of possible futures that seem to indicate that. Me, I don't need it."

This triggers another train of thoughts.

"Does the phrase "An'Zhanti High Lightning" mean anything to you?"

"I'm sorry," Sky says.  "That almost sounds like a desert language, though.  You could ask Bobby."

Colin shakes his head. "Never mind."

"Well, I guess I should go now. I'll let you know as soon as I talk to my friend. Goodbye."

"Bye, Colin," Sky says and heads back to her pile of reports with a pang for her days of action.

Colin calls Rhys then.

"Hello? Colin, what's up?"

"I've talked with my friend. She didn't know of any creature like your friend, but she knows of someone who might. She asked me if they could come to meet you. She says her friend might be able to talk with your friend. You see, they're... from another place as well."

"Sure, I guess. When?"

Colin is glad and relieved Rhys is comfortable with the idea.

"Oh, I dunno, maybe next week, or during the weekend. My friend lives in Arizona. Just give her time to plan the trip."

"Is that far away? Sorry, I'm still not real familiar with your geography yet. But, yeah, there's no hurry."

"Not too far. A little less than two thousand miles." Colin says, chuckling.

"I'll let you know when she answers me."


After hanging up, he sends Sky a message.
My friend says it's all right. Let me know when you and Eric can drop by. Thanks again. - Colin