Julie looked at me and said, “You remember what my problem is, right?” I nodded. “Do you also remember that I used to joke around a lot and not always take anything seriously in school?” I had to think, but I remembered that she was like that, so I nodded again. “Keep that in mind when you meet it.”
“Wait, did you say, ‘It?’” I asked.
“You’ll see,” she said with a forced smile. “I think that for full effect I’ll keep my clothes on.”
Allan said, “You know what that will do.”
“I’ll wish them back,” she said. “OK, here goes.” She closed her eyes tightly. She spread her feet apart so that there was space between her legs. Then she held her arms out straight at the shoulders.
I started to hear a crackling, electric-like sound in the room. It started and stopped a few times, then it remained constant. Then Julie’s body was suddenly surrounded by a series of electric sparks. These sparks started to attack her body. They began to tear holes in her clothing. The holes started out small, but kept getting bigger until parts of her bare body were visible. A quick series of sparks gradually tore her clothes off her body and left her naked. The torn bits of her clothes fell to the floor but were hit by more sparks and seemed to disappear. Since I could now see her naked I could confirm Joe’s belief that she had a very attractive body. Still, it wasn’t as nice as mine. But that was just me saying that.
Suddenly Julie opened her eyes wide. But her eyes were different. They were completely and totally black. There wasn’t one drop of color, even white, anywhere in them. I was a bit scared and actually pushed back in me chair. It was creepy looking. Then it got even creepier as her hair was attacked by the sparks. The sparks hit her hair and all of it simply disintegrated. In an instant she went from a nice, full head of hair to bald as a cue ball.
What happened next is really hard to describe. A couple of different things happened almost at the same time. The first thing that happened was that she grew taller. She shot up about a foot and a half so that she had to be seven feet tall!
Next the sparks did something different. Instead of attacking her body, they formed around her. It was as if they took the shape of her body. Slowly they moved closer to her until they covered her body entirely. With the sparks still moving or whatever it was they did, she didn’t look like a real person anymore. She looked like person-shaped bundle of electricity.
Things just kept getting freakier. With the sparks now all around her, another change happened. From out of nowhere a bunch of little pieces and bits of what looked like circuits slammed onto her body. I say they slammed onto her because every time a new piece appeared, her body reacted as if it had been hit by that piece by moving in the opposite direction. The little circuits appeared randomly on her body but very soon they completely covered her, except her eyes, and they were all perfectly connected. So instead of being a bundle of electricity she was now a bundle of circuitry.
The changes were not done. The next thing that happened was pieces of metal began appearing on her, but not in a random order like the circuits. They started at her feet and worked their way up. As the pieces of metal began to appear I also noticed that they were changing her shape. I mean, even with the circuits covering her, you could still tell she was a woman. But the metal that appeared on her was big and blocky so that it didn’t much curve anywhere. Her feet were nice and petite but now they were two huge squares of thick-looking, silver metal. The metal moved up her legs and gave them a thick, rectangular shape instead of a thin, circular shape.
This double change, so to speak, continued all the way up her body. When the metal covered her upper body, you couldn’t tell anymore that she had breasts. Her arms looked almost exactly the same as her legs. Though she didn’t have toes anymore thanks to the metal covering them, she did still have fingers once the metal covered her hands. They, too, were thick and squared off instead of circular.
The last changes happened once the metal reached her neck. A thick piece of metal appeared on her neck that also seemed to make her head move upward. Like, what I mean is that when her neck was covered in the metal, the distance between her head and her shoulders seemed to get larger. Finally a really big square piece of metal completely covered her face and head. This piece of metal was clearly meant to be a face, but all it had was holes for her black eyes and a small little rectangle that I guessed was supposed to be her mouth. There were no indications of ears or a nose, and there was absolutely no expression on her face. She looked a bit scary, really.
After a few seconds the head started to move around. I guessed it was looking around. Since the eyes were nothing but black, it was impossible to know where it might have been looking. I did notice that the head seemed to move pretty easily considering how it sat on the neck and how blocky the whole thing looked. I noticed that the head stopped moving and seemed to be looking straight at me. “Greetings,” came a voice from the direction what now stood in Julie’s place. The voice was freaky, too. It sounded somewhat like Julie’s voice, but mostly it did not. In addition to Julie’s voice, I heard what sounded like a male voice. But overall the voice had a sort of typical metallic or robotic echo and rhythm to it. So it sounded like multiple voices at once, but it no one voice was strongest. They all blended together. “I am called Shifter. I am a robot of advanced capabilities and fighting techniques. Would you like a demonstration?”
Commander Victory said, “Only minimally, please, Shifter, we have to keep moving.”
The head of Shifter, as I guessed I should regard it now, moved around to look at everyone. “Ah, yes, I see,” said Shifter. “Allow me to show you what I can do, Bambi,” Shifter said to me. I was going to ask how it knew my name, but I realized that Shifter had Julie’s memories and would already know my name because of that.
However, I did ask, “Excuse me a moment, but are you a ‘he’ or a ‘she?’”
The other three at the table looked stunned at me for asking that. “I am afraid that I am neither,” Shifter responded. “I do not possess human sexual characteristics, for I am not human. I also do not possess human emotions. If you find this difficult when communicating with me, please let me know and I will do my best to help you.”
“Right then,” I said. “Sorry for interrupting.” At least I knew now that Shifter was an “it.” I soon learned why “Shifter” was its name. Shifter’s main power was its ability to alter its body parts, mostly its arms and legs, into various weapons and tools. It could turn its whole arm into a cannon, or it could change one finger into a key. Its legs could sprout wheels to move around easier.
After it had spent several minutes demonstrating these really incredible abilities, it said to me, “This is the final thing I can do.” Shifter’s arms reached up to its head and with one quick movement, its head came off its neck! Really! He took off his own bleedin’ head! I was going to faint. In my mind, Julie’s head was still in there and now it was disconnected from her body. “Please do not be alarmed,” said Shifter. “Julie does not feel any pain.”
“So why do you do this?” I asked.
“Mostly for reconnaissance missions,” it answered. “My head is able to propel itself with hover boosters. The rest of my body can still function independently and without issue. Fortunately we do not have to use this ability very often.”
“Our work tends to be straightforward,” said Commander Victory. “More direct action than sneaking around. So now you know Shifter, Miss Buxom. What are your thoughts?”
I looked at Shifter, who was in the process of putting its head back on its neck. “A little weird,” I said. “‘Cause of the head thing. Pretty cool powers.”
“Shifter has been here longer than I have and has my utmost respect. Shifter always finds a way to get the job done,” said Commander Victory in his best commanding style. “Which of you two gentlemen will go next?”
To my surprise Bradley stood up and said, “I’ll get this over with. And I’m not taking off my clothes, either.”