Emergence (Fox Meridian Book 5) (37 page)

She could feel the water running off her body, her hair sticking to the skin of her forehead and neck. As she cleared the tank and the lift locked off, she lifted her arms from the stands to look at them properly. She could feel her weight on the soles of her feet. The skin on the back of her hand was smooth to the touch, perfect. She ran her hand up her arm, unconsciously mirroring Fei’s actions from that morning, and then she went further. They had even managed to reproduce the line of moles over her chest: the little imperfections were all there. Her breasts felt firmer than they had, but soft and definitely realistic. She was just about to go in for further examination when a cough brought her attention to the other occupants on the platform.

Jackson was staring pointedly at the ceiling. Fei had the same interested smile on her face, but Fox figured she had not developed a full range of expressions yet. Kit looked like she was trying
very
hard not to laugh her ass off. Terri was holding a short wrap, and appeared to be trying not to smirk.

‘How does it, um, feel?’ Terri said, holding out the wrap in a somewhat pointed manner.

Fox took it and pulled it on over her wet skin. The silky material soaked through immediately and clung in a manner which rather defeated the purpose of wearing it, but she was wearing something. ‘I should probably dry off before I get dressed,’ Fox said. ‘It feels… like skin. It feels great.’

‘But?’

Fox frowned, felt the muscles in her brow tense, and smiled before shaking her head. ‘I can feel my face moving again. It’s great, but… It’s not… I’m not… me.’

‘You look like you,’ Fei said. ‘You sound like you. Why are you not you?’

Fox flashed the AI a grin. ‘I don’t know, Fei. I just don’t quite feel… I think I feel new. I mean, I
am
new. I probably just need some time. People adjust to their circumstances. Humans are good at that.’

‘It does seem to be what placed us at the top of the evolutionary ladder,’ Jackson said. He was actually looking at Fox again, though he appeared to think something slightly less transparent in the way of clothing might be a good idea; his eyes were firmly fixed on her face. ‘Well, until recently. One can argue about the current generation of AIs, like Kit, but with Fei and now Fox, I’m not so sure we can really claim our lofty position any longer.’

‘It does seem like we’re seeing the emergence of some new classes of sentient being,’ Terri said. ‘Fei, obviously, but Fox represents a new level of man-machine integration. I guess the future is bright, and maybe a little scary.’

‘I do not believe that I am scary,’ Fei said, her smile brightening into just plain cute.

Fox laughed. ‘We’ll have a chat about that at some point. But right now… I just
emerged
from a swimming pool. I’m going to find a shower unit with air blowers, get dressed so that Jackson can stop looking like he’s watching porn with his daughter… And then I’ll start trying to figure out what the new me really is.’

###

About the Author

I was born in the vicinity of Hadrian's Wall so perhaps a bit of history rubbed off. Ancient history obviously, and border history, right on the edge of the Empire. I always preferred the Dark Ages anyway; there’s so much more room for imagination when people aren’t writing down every last detail. So my idea of a good fantasy novel involved dirt and leather, not shining plate armour and Hollywood-medieval manners. The same applies to my sci-fi, really; I prefer gritty over shiny.

Oddly, then, one of the first fantasy novels I remember reading was The Dark Is Rising, by Susan Cooper (later made into a terrible juvenile movie). These days we would call Cooper’s series Young Adult Contemporary Fantasy and looking back on it, it influenced me a lot. It has that mix of modern day life, hidden history, and magic which failed to hit popular culture until the early days of Buffy and Anne Rice. Of course, Cooper’s characters spend their time around places I could actually visit in Cornwall, and South East England, and mid-Wales. In fact, when I went to university in Aberystwyth, it was partially because some of Cooper’s books were set a few miles to the north around Tywyn.

I got into writing through roleplaying, however, so my early work was related to the kind of roleplaying game I was interested in. I wrote science fiction when I was playing
Traveller.
I wrote “high fantasy” when I was playing
Dungeons & Dragons
. I wrote a lot of superhero fiction when I was playing
City of Heroes
. I still love the idea of a modern world with magic in it and I’ve been trying to write a novel based on this for a long time. As with any form of expression, practice is the key and I can look back on all the aborted attempts at books, and the more successful short stories, as steps along the path to the Thaumatology Series.

Recently I took the big step of quitting my day job and taking up full-time writing. My favourite authors are Terry Pratchett, Susan Cooper, J.D. Robb, and Kim Harrison. Kim’s Hollows books were what finally spurred me to publish something, even if the trail to here came by way of Susan, back in school, several decades ago.

For More Information

Take a look at the Witches and Ray-guns blog:
http://witchesandrayguns.wordpress.com

Amazon Author Pages:

US:
http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B006J6II9O

UK:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/-/e/B006J6II9O

Other Books by this Author

The
Thaumatology
Series

Thaumatology 101

Demon’s Moon

Legacy

Dragon’s Blood

Disturbia

Hammer of Witches

Eagle’s Shadow

Ancient

Dragonfall

The Other Side of Hell

For Whom the Wedding Bells Toll

Vengeance

Anthologies in the
Thaumatology
Universe

Tales from High Towers’ Study

Tales from the Dubh Linn

The
Aneka Jansen
Books

Steel Beneath The Skin

The Cold Steel Mind

Steel Heart

The Winter War

The Greatest Heights of Honour

The Lowest Depths of Shame

Hope

The
Ultrahuman
Books

Ugly

Shadows

Hunting Mink

Frostburn

Guardian – 2017/18

True Dark – 2017/18

The
Unobtainium
Books

Kate on a Hot Tin Roof

King Solamet’s Mines – late 2016

The
Reality Hack
Books

Reality Hack

The
Fox Meridian
Books

Fox Hunt

Inescapable

DeathWeb

Criminal Minds

Emergence

The Ghost in the Doll – August 2016

Eden Burning - 2017

The
Princeps Venator
Books

Hunter’s Kiss

Be My Valentine – late 2016

Table of Contents

Part One: Festivities

Part Two: In the Big Top

Part Three: Insult, Meet Injury

Part Four: Rising Sun

Part Five: Death and Birth