Free Zenn Scarlett by Christian Schoon

to blur. This slightly out-of-focus Katie-outline now took on the brownish tint of the synthwood flooring beneath her. A second after that, she disappeared.
    Hamish started to say something, but Zenn wasn’t finished.
    “Katieee… un-blend.”
    A spot on the floor before them quivered, the brownish, indistinct shape of a rikkaset reappeared, turned to a vibrating swirl of violet and cream, and then Katie was there again. Her ringed tail whipped back and forth with excitement as Zenn praised her.
    “Good Katie. Good girl,” Zenn said. “We’ve been working on blending and appearing again on command. I think she’s got it.”
    “I have heard such animals are capable of this. But I have never seen it. How is it accomplished?”
    “It’s her fur. It’s refractive.” Hamish shook his big head, not understanding. “That means each hair can re-direct light that hits it, kind of like a bunch of tiny prisms. It’s a defense mechanism, rikkasets evolved it for hiding from predators. There are a couple species of lightshifters, but Smithson’s rikkasets do it best.”
    “Yes, I can see that.” Hamish leaned down again to pet Katie. This time she let him draw his grooming-claw through the fur on her back. Then she sat down at Zenn’s feet. “And you have taught her hand-language. She must have an excellent brain.”
    Zenn laughed. “Yes, quite the brain. Rikkasets have the mental ability of an Earther chimpanzee.”
    Hamish continued stroking Katie, and the rikkaset trilled her pleasure at him.
    “We had considerable excitement yesterday, did we not? With the mammal-hound,” he said. “Is the animal alright?”
    “He lost a little skin under his chin. Probably scraped it when he went down, after I darted him. Nothing serious.”
    “Your wielding of the tranquilizing bow was admirable. This must give you some pleasure.”
    “Well… actually,” she said. “It might have been my fault he got out in the first place.”
    “Your fault?” He tilted his antennae toward her. “How is this so?”
    Good question , Zenn thought.
    “I don’t really know,” she said. “It’s possible I… forgot to reactivate the energy fence.” The admission irked her, intensely. It was bad enough having Otha reprimand her about the fence. And she couldn’t defend herself from his accusation. In the aftermath of the weird feeling she’d had while treating the hound, she’d been disoriented, her mind fogged. The truth was, she couldn’t say positively whether she’d reactivated the fence or not.
    “You left the fence inactivated?” Hamish said. “Have you done such a thing before?”
    “No. That’s just it. I always turn fences back on. Close the gates. Make sure everything’s secure. But this time… Well, I’ve been a little off, lately.”
    “Off… off of what?”
    “It means: not my usual self.”
    “This sounds as if it makes you regretful.”
    “Well, let’s just say I sunk my chances of getting a perfect score on my end of terms.”
    “Ah, your testing scores. Can this damage not be remedied?”
    “Sure. If I score high enough on the next two rounds.”
    “And what is the next round?”
    “In-soma insertion. In a swamp sloo.”
    “Yes. The in-soma pod device. I must say that this seems hazardous. Is it? A hazardous device?”
    “Not really. Not if you know the procedures.”
    “But you enter this device, and then it is taken into the body of an organism many times your size. This is not a thing I would do voluntarily. Are you forced to do this?”
    “No,” Zenn laughed. “I can’t wait, actually.”
    “And what happens, when you are in some vast and monumental animal’s body?”
    “Well, you navigate your way through the digestive system.”
    “This has the sound of being highly unpleasant.”
    “No. It’s fascinating. Really. And you’re doing it to help the animal. To diagnose and treat things that are wrong. Let’s say your swamp sloo has a duodenal ulcer. You navigate through the