Free Shockball by S. L. Viehl Page B

obvious?” She even laughed pretty. “Yes, this is my first offworld assignment. Takes some getting used to, you know, working on a troop freighter, being around all these nonhumans.”
    “Uh-huh.” There were barely discernible bags under the makeup she’d blotted around her sparkling brown eyes. Establish rapport, Cherijo. Lull her into thinking you’re the Sunshine and Happiness Patient. “Must have been pretty rough. You look a little tired.”
    “You were a very naughty patient, Doctor.” She wagged a manicured fingernail at me. “I had to remain awake for the entire jaunt because of you.”
    The chart. It was closest; the obvious choice. I moved my hands into position under it and locked my fingers together. “Why’s that?”
    “Trying to keep you in suspension was really a challenge. You kept waking up, no matter how much sedation I—”
    I hit the bottom of the chart as hard as I could with my joined hands. The edge flew up, smashed into her chin, and sent her staggering backward. Lily shrieked and grabbed her face, but by then I had retrieved the syrinpress, tackled her, and sat on top of her.
    “No!” She sounded funny, and struggled as I calibrated the instrument for a hefty dose of Valumine, then pressed it against her jugular. “What are you… ?”
    “Don’t you hate it, Lily, when someone infuses you with something and they won’t tell you what it is?” I smiled. “Have a nice nap.”
    I got to my feet as soon as her eyes fluttered shut, and started stripping her down. Sunshine was a foot taller than me, so I had to roll under the hems of her sleeves and cuffs. I put the syrinpress and the dermal probe in the pockets of her lab coat. On the plus side, she had small feet, so her footgear almost fit me.
    Once I was dressed, I dragged her over to the berth, heaved her up on it, and clapped her into the restraints. A strip torn from the berth linens made an adequate, if not quite fashionable, gag.
    “Don’t go anywhere now.” I checked her vitals. Yeah, she’d be out for a couple of hours. Then I draped her to make it look like I was still in the berth, huddled under the linens.
    At the console, I pulled up a schematic of the ship. According to the screen, Reever and Jenner were being held in a compartment two levels below me. I knew just where it was, since the Stephenson was the same class of League ship as the Perpetua , and the layouts were almost identical.
    I figured there would be security outside the door, so I needed to disguise my face. I spied the Lok-Teel undulating listlessly in its specimen container, and rubbed my chin.
    “If you can do it for Reever, I bet you can do it for me.” I took it out and felt it caress my fingers with warmth and what had to be a form of mold-affection. “He did this telepathically, right?”
    I wasn’t much of a telepath, but I had been able to successfully communicate with the Pel on Catopsa. And the Pel had used the Lok-Teel as housekeepers. Should work.
    I cradled the Lok-Teel between my hands and concentrated, forming a mental image of my own face, masked and transformed into Dr. Risen’s features. The Lok-Teel stopped moving for a moment, then crawled up my arm toward my neck.
    It was unnerving at first, to sit quietly as the mold flattened and oozed up and over my face. It worked its way over my lips and my nostrils. I guessed my job was to trust it, hold my breath and keep the image of the Lily’s face—and air holes—in my mind. That, plus no screaming.
    Slowly the Lok-Teel covered my entire head, and enveloped all of my hair, pulling it up and flattening it against my skull. Then I felt silky, shorter strands of hair brushing against the thin surface of the mold coating my cheek, and carefully got to my feet.
    A glance in a wall unit mirror made me grin. I was the spitting image of Dr. Lily Risen—even down to the smooth, blond hair style.
    All I had to do now was walk out of Medical at a brisk pace, carry a stack of charts, look