The Color of Iron

Let's get out of here. The guards will be here soon.

No time to change. Stuff those clothes down the chute. We hurried into the lift. This form isn't a good one either. We could be the guard, but a naked guard would raise questions too.

Leave it to me, replied Color of Air.

The guards pushing to get on the lift on the ninth floor were bowled over by a fleet black form. They barely had time to squeeze off one shot at the bounding panther before it vanished around a corner. They decided that capturing panthers was someone else's problem and crowded into the lift. We knew that they were already too late.

We skidded back into the Ambassador's suite to find Alexander awake and alarmed. "What's going on? Oh my lord!" He fell back before the panther and gaped in bemusement as it flowed into Nuritha before his eyes.

"Alexander! Get dressed immediately. Your suite is bugged and they're going to detain you on charges of planning to overthrow the government. You'll be lucky if that's only a death penalty around here. We have to get you out of here."

"How? I have no place to go, and no commercial liner leaves for at least two days.

"I have a ship, and I'll take care of getting you there. Help me drag this guard in here and get his clothes off."

"Is he dead?"

"Yes, he threatened me. Now get moving."

We stripped the body, then I took the guard's form and donned his clothes as Alexander looked on in disbelief. "What are you?" he asked.

"If we get out of here, I'll tell you. Get dressed."

He returned in minutes, dressed sensibly for travel. I pulled the guard's sidearm and held it ready. "Let's go. Pretend you're my prisoner and walk in front of me."

He did so, looking as if he weren't sure that I was pretending. That was fine, it added realism to his acting. I stopped to make a quick call to my hotel and instructed my luggage to check out and meet us at the ship. Heaven help anyone who stood in its way.

We got to the ship ahead of word from the now headless government and got offplanet without incident. Our course was set for a more civilized world, and we were facing Alexander in the ship's lounge. We had resumed Nuritha's form, since it was the one Alexander was familiar with. He was looking us over with a skeptical eye.

"I am of course in your debt for getting me out of there. It seems there is more to you than meets the eye. Can you tell me now exactly what you are?"

"Can you keep a secret?"

"Of course, because you ask it, I will keep your confidence. I would do this even without my debt of gratitude."

Still the courtly one. We knew how to get past that. We sauntered over to him, pushed him back into a seat, and curled up in his lap. "The best answer to that is a demonstration," we whispered in his ear. He found himself with a lap full of six-armed, three-breasted fertility goddess, whose six hands were making quick work of his clothes. This was the form Color of Air chose when she was in the mood for some serious sex.

It was a five day run to our destination. I hoped Alexander was up to it.