She wriggled her nose, resting one hand over her eyes to shield them from the glare of the sun. A headphone, she thought, would be a nice touch. But then, that might make her miss any obvious signs, should someone approach. And pretty much anyone approaching would be something she'd prefer to be aware of, all things considered.
It was strange, but she had managed to pick up a few things about the invaders, as she had come to think of them. They could all communicate with oneanother without words. She expected that this resulted in some sort of mental homogenization, as they all essentially shared a global mood.
They were observant of others, initially, but as more and more people became... like them... it became easier to slip through their cracks. They tended not to notice you weren't one of them if you acted like one of them. This granted her some degree of autonomy and the ability to at least walk down the streets when more of them were around.
It at least let her go to resturants, blandly order whatever the person before her had in the same monotone she could manage, and then sustain herself. It did not, however, guarantee her anonymity when she transformed, for reasons she couldn't fathom.
Perhaps it was because the invaders had copied the information in her friend's minds. She wasn't certain, but she had an inkling of what that meant.
Whoever the invaders were, they couldn't actually emulate the powers of her friends, at least not well. She knew this because she'd been forced to defend herself from her 'colleagues' twice... already. The impostors were pulped nicely and left green and yellow remains behind. Little doubt they were impostors, at least, after the fact.
But the important thing she'd learned was this:
When the invaders cloned someone, they usually would integrate their mass. They'd consume the body of their 'host', as it was more efficient, and the original wasn't needed anymore.
Not so with her friends, and a good handful of other people. There was a martial artist who wandered around -- nearly everywhere, it seemed -- with a backpack and a red umbrella. The invaders had cloned him quite a few times.
As far as she could tell, there were some traits in hosts that the hive-mind wanted to possess, and it wouldn't destroy the original until it actually made a perfectly working copy.
That meant, to her, that it was possible to rescue her friends.
Maybe.
The obvious problem, of course, was that she had no idea where they were hidden, and she wasn't likely to succeed alone.
The radio suddenly drew her attention: "...two 'senshi' spotted outside of Narita, southbound on main. They are resisting -- their capture is essential for complete emulation."
Smiling, she opened her eyes, lowered her hand, and stood up.
Of course, it was just a question of waiting for a little more help to arrive, and now that it had....
See other episodes by Sgt. Chibi De`Ohki
(Posted Sat, 06 Sep 2003 02:45)
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