Message-ID: <16528eli$9810150724@qz.little-neck.ny.us> X-Archived-At: From: tigger@alices.com (Tigger) Subject: RP TG: A Change of Direction (20/22) (Magic, TG) Newsgroups: alt.sex.stories.moderated,alt.sex.stories Followup-To: alt.sex.stories.d Reply-To: tigger@alices.com Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Path: qz!not-for-mail Organization: The Committee To Thwart Spam Approved: X-Moderator-Contact: Eli the Bearded X-Story-Submission: X-Original-Message-ID: <36274bf3.11518353@news.erols.com> A Change of Direction Part 20 by Tigger Copyright 1997, all rights reserved. Archiving/publication of this author's work on any system that requires payment in any form is prohibited by the author and is in violation of my copyright to Chapters 7 and beyond. No archiving or redistribution of this work is permitted without this copyright attribution included, intact and complete, in the posting/archiving. A Change of Direction Chapter 26 Jacqui awoke slowly. Her eyes did not want to open. Something sticky was pulling at her lashes. Then she remembered why there was the residue of dried tears gluing her eyes closed. Marcus. Her Marcus was dead. The tears started afresh as she lay in her bed where less than forty eight hours before, she had joyfully given up her virginity. And now, the man she had wanted, loved and needed badly enough to make him the recipient of that gift was dead. A miasma of seemingly unrelated and totally illogical emotions swirled about inside her. Love, despair, hope, loss, a sense of things being right and a sense of things being wrong. And a sense of something else. Something dark. Something very dangerous. It was all so confusing. How could she feel hope just now, or that underpinning of hope? Marcus was dead. And yet, that is what she felt. One thing she had come to accept over the 21 months of being a woman was that what she felt or sensed did not necessarily make rational sense when analyzed critically. Still, Jacqui had learned *not* to discount such intangible insights anymore. The changes in her chess play and her divination of her Mother's intent to commit suicide were proof that those feelings were important and that they meant . . . something. No, there was something going on. Several things, in fact, if each of those impressions meant something different. The strongest feeling was that the danger was not over, but even then, the hope would not go away. Jacqui needed help. She was still new enough to this intuition sense of hers that she did not know how to interpret so much contradictory input. She needed her Mother. Rising, she quickly dressed and then slipped out of her room. Moving quietly down the stairs, her attention was drawn to the sound of voices in her Mother's library. Bronwyn was here talking to her Mother. So much the better, she thought grimly. She stopped just outside the door, attempting to gather herself before facing them. She did not want to break down again before she had gotten out what it was she wanted to say. Laurie was seated at her desk, but with chair spun away from the state of the art computer so she could face Bronwyn. Jacqui had to smile. Her mother might own the best computer money could bye, she might have high speed data lines installed in the house, but she hated the things with a passion. The computer served as a word processor for her Mother's writing and as a means to communicate with her editors. At least, Jacqui thought that was all she did with it. Although, with all that capability, it was also an ideal tool to deal with fixing records and things like that. At least, that is how Jacqui would do it. Still, that would require very sophisticated computer skills. Had her Mother been pretending to be so computer illiterate when that new machine had arrived? If not, then the Sisterhood must have someone inside the group who saw to the record keeping and record changing. Unless they did it by magic. "It is just too much too soon to be coincidence, Laurel. First Roberta and now Jacqui through Marcus." Bronwyn's voice broke into Jacqui's musings. "Two novice members of the Sisterhood attacked mere weeks apart. The report from our Sister on the investigating team said that she sensed the remnants of power in the failed brake line. Nothing that ordinary police methods would uncover or even recognize, but this woman is a sensitive. She says it was the Dark Power that did it, not routine wear and tear." *THAT* got Jacqui's attention. Roberta's death and Marc's death had not been natural or accidental? Quietly, she crept back from the door and listened. She concentrated on opening her mind as Bronwyn had been trying to teach her to do, tried to focus that strange intuitive sense she still did not fully understand, but now fully accepted. "Which marches with what Mrs. Arnold said to Jacqui. The car had only recently been in for maintenance and inspection. No problems noted with the brakes." "The only problem is how would anyone know to attack either of them. There are no records which point to them being Sisters. Very few even know that we exist. How could anyone know to attack them?" Bronwyn was frustrated. "What could possibly point them out as members of the Sisterhood?" A mental image of Laurie by the computer flared momentarily in Jacqui's mind again. That *was* it. Somehow, Jacqui was absolutely sure of it. Her Mother was every bit as inept as she seemed. Laurie did everything by rote on a computer. She even resisted getting upgrades to software because she hated having to learn new things on the machine. The idea crystalized and became firm in her mind. Jacqui moved out of the shadows and into the library. "How good are your record changing methods?" came a soft voice behind them. They turned to see a wan and tired Jacqui standing in the Laurie's library door. Slowly, she moved into the room and took a chair. "Hello, darling." Laurie said gently. "What do you mean, how good are our methods?" "How complete are the record changes you make when you Transform someone? How far reaching are the changes? What kind of checks do you make to ensure there are not any remaining records of the male identity?" Bronwyn shrugged. "Where ever we are living at the time, we make sure that no official agency has any records that show the male identity. Schools, credit cards, banks, licenses, social security and the like. It is not all that hard to do." she said complacently. "That's all?" was Jacqui's disbelieving rejoinder. "That is really *all* you do? Just local stuff and basic government records?" There was no longer even a hint of doubt in Jacqui's mind. This was the problem. If she had been a cat, her fur would have been standing on end. Confused by the tinge of contempt in Jacqui's tones, Bronwyn answered "Well, yes. It is all we have ever needed to do. Why, Jacqui? What is wrong?" Shaking her head, Jacqui looked up. "Everything, Bronwyn. This is the Information Age. Everybody knows everything about everybody. Or at least, they can. Information is contained around the country in multiply redundant systems so that the failure of one does not cause the loss of some vital information. Some of those systems update automatically, some have to ordered to update. You with me so far?" Still uncertain where this was leading, Bronwyn nodded. "Okay, what I am proposing would take a huge amount of computing power, but it is not impossible. Suppose you were looking for a male to female Transformee. If you could keep your records intact, all you would have to do is constantly compare your records with someone else's records - like the old Draft Board or Social Security. So, if some number's gender changes, you have a possible Sister." Jacqui turned to his Mother. "My driver's license and my Social Security Number did not change when you gave me my new ID's, Mum. If all you did was change it in the main computer, and did not do some type of all out Internet-wide search, then it is a good bet that somewhere out there is still records of John Donovan." The two older women looked stunned. Then another thought hit Jacqui. "And that only assumes no one is looking. If some one is looking, he would mirror key databases, and then lock his own system down so he could search off line, too." Laurie was the first to speak. "You are serious about this, Jacqui? This is possible?" "Mum, how do you think I got the data on Wicca? If you have not changed every computer in the country, the information is probably still out there and available." Jacqui stood and went over to her Mother's computer, and logged on to her Mother's account. She did not use her own since her Mother's had the login script already set. Once online, she set up a quick web search looking for clues to "John David Donovan." Grim-faced, Bronwyn watched as the screen scrolled. As she had been those months ago when Bonnie had watched Jacqui worked, she was awed and frightened at this power she did not completely understand. The computer chimed several times, locating information on other "John David Donovan"s before a fateful "ding" heralded the discovery of their John David Donovan. Almost amused, Jacqui said. "I'd all but forgotten about that one. My interest in them disappeared along with the collection of classic comic books Mom sent away the day of my Transformation." The record was in the computer of a comic book locator group, whose mission was to find and sell collector comic books. "Anyway, you can see what I mean. And that did not take all that long." Bronwyn turned to Laurie. "That means that practically every Sister is at risk." She said, her voice quavering. "I'd say the newest of us are at the most risk." Jacqui said distractedly. "Those who were Transformed before the early 1980's and the wide spread proliferation of small computers are probably fairly safe." Both women noted the use of the word "us" with surprise, but said nothing about that. "Then I will start by warning those members to take special precautions, before I alert the rest of the Sisterhood. After that, we have to find out who is doing this and how." "Easier said than done, Bronwyn. As I said, the whole thing can be done offline. You are going to have to hope they've made a mistake if I am going to find them." "You?" her eyebrow cocked in surprise. "If *you* are going to find them?" For the first time she'd been told of her lover's death, a real smile flitted across Jacqui's face. "It's not like either of you have any hope of finding anything. Now, the two of you, get out of here and let me work." "But it is my office and my computer." wailed a protesting Laurie. "My modem is broken. I will use your account for the search until I can get another one hooked up." "Oh, go ahead. It is not like I use the thing all that much anyway. I just wish my publisher would still let me send in typed sheets instead of demanding I transmit my stuff to them by modem." Laurie fumed. "Me, too." Bronwyn added with a chuckle. "Wouldn't even have one of the things, otherwise. Come on, Laurel. We have some friends to call, and we need to do it from a secure place." And with that, the two women left. When they returned, they found Laurie's usually neat and pristine library littered with paper. Before she could start her scold, Jacqui started on them. "Roberta Lawler's cover was completely transparent. I have found innumerable references to Robert Lawler, complete with social security number, scattered all across the 'Net. Whoever set up her new identity did a lousy job. I am convinced this is how she got blown." Laurie spoke first. "And what does that say about you and Marcus?" "I don't know, Mum. I tried, but I can't find the same preponderance of evidence on me. They may have just gotten lucky, or they may have started working off line between the time they caught on to Bobbie and when I was Transformed." "So, we have a leak." said Bronwyn. "More like a gaping hole, Bronwyn. If you are going to keep up the Sisterhood by Transforming men in this society, you better start working on computer security and counter security. You simply are not protecting the Transformee's against the threat posed by the Internet." "But we don't know anything about that stuff." wailed Laurie. Jacqui's voice was deathly cold. "I do. And I am going to know a lot more. Who ever is behind this killed the man I loved. I am going to do whatever I can to bring him down, and to prevent him from killing any more people that I, or those I love, care about." Stunned by her turnabout, both women looked at each other before turning back to Jacqui. "Does. . ." Laurie's voice broke. "Does this mean you have changed your mind about changing back to Jack?" Jacqui shrugged. "I had, before Marcus was killed. I wasn't going to give up what we could have had together. Love is too important. I've learned that much in the last 21 months. Now, I don't know, Mum. Maybe if I was Jack again, his dying like that would not hurt so much. I just don't know what I am going to do, except that I am going to help you find the ones who did it to him. After that, I just don't know." Excerpt from the Journal of Miss Jacqui Donovan 1 Year 9 Months 17 days A. T. I am now officially overdue for the first time in my admittedly short female life. I also have morning sickness, except that I have it at midnight. My healer talents, which don't normally work on me, can sense other life. And inside me, there is another life. Oh Goddess. I am pregnant. Through birth control pills that I took religiously, and condoms that I personally put on him and tested, I am somehow pregnant. The man I loved left me a gift when he left me to die. His son. Oh Goddess, I barely know how to be a woman. How in the name of all that is holy am I going to be a Mother? Think of *something* else, Jacqui. Emotions like that are not good for the baby. Bronwyn has been teaching me to "think" to her with my mind. It has been handy to be able to "talk" to her as I've been searching the Net for signs of Sisters who are vulnerable. So far, about six in the hundred or so I have researched have needed fixes. A couple needed complete changes of identity. But I am still no closer to finding the animal behind this. I don't know whether Bronwyn or Mom are. When I ask, I am politely told that what they are doing is "Sisterhood business" and not for the ears of "novices". Makes me so mad I just want to spit. Don't really need one, but I guess I will pick up one of those home pregnancy test kits after school today. Professor Stevens dropped me an email. Seems he wants to talk to me this afternoon about my schedule for next fall. Good thing I was ahead on all my work before this all happened. I still got everything in on time and good grades. I will need good grades, too. I am going to help the Sisterhood protect themselves in the 21st Century. Their collective computer smarts are nearly non-existent - limited to word processing if they have any at all. And that is something I can do as Jack or Jacqui. Jack could raise Marcus' child, couldn't he? Why doesn't Jack talk to me anymore? I can't remember the last time he needled me. When did he stop? I have to go or I will be late for school. End Journal Entry. ********************* "Is everything ready?" Lancaster asked with deliberate insult in his voice. "Yes, High Leader." came the response from the Chief. "The sanctuary is fully operational and the professor has arranged for her to be in his office later today. We will take her at the parking lot she uses after she sees the professor." "Contingency plans?" "Three action teams involved to provide covering fire for the getaway, and three different vehicle changes available if needed en route to the sanctuary." "I don't need to tell you not to fail." It was not a question. "No, High Leader, because we will not fail." was the expected, rote answer. "Very well, Chief. Go get the Mother of my Son for me, then." As the Chief left his office, Lancaster looked down at the dossier the Chief had given him. The slut was attractive, he thought. It would not be hard, filling her belly with his seed. It might even be pleasurable. And even if was not, he spent the past months stockpiling his semen for this very purpose. He would enjoy watching the slut grow fat with his son. Sadly, she would not live long enough afterwards for him to fully relish his victory. He could not chance her coming into her full power after getting to know him as well as she would have to know him. ~-------------~ ************************ Jacqui was furious as she stormed across campus toward her parking lot. The paper Professor Stevens wanted her to sign was one he'd already had her sign weeks ago. She had waited on campus three hours after her last class for that meeting, which the Professor himself was forty five minutes late for, and it had been for nothing. She could have been continuing her search for blown covers on the Internet for the past three hours. Grimfaced, she stomped up to her car and was inserting the key in the lock with something grabbed her shoulder. Before she could react, a sharp sting bit into her left buttock. The world went black before she could even straighten up to turn around. **************** "Any casualties?" barked Lancaster. "None, High Leader. The capture was unobserved. We escaped without detection." "Are you sure of that, or is that merely an assumption on your part." The Chief answered. "It is a fact, Sir, but we took precautions, none the less. We made three vehicle changes and had two different counter surveillance cars on each leg of the trip here. We were not followed." "Excellent work, Chief. How long will she be out?" "Another three to five hours, Sir. The drug is relatively harmless, but it is quick acting and takes a while to wear off." "Excellent. I will remain with her until she awakens. Now, you may go. Ensure that our Brothers are properly alert. The Sisterhood may try to rescue her." ~-----------~ "Bronwyn, where can she be? It is after seven. She is usually home by two o'clock on Tuesdays, particularly since she has been doing the computer security checks. And she always calls if she is going to be late." "I don't know, Laurel. I am going to alert the other Sisters in the area and then I will meet you at your home. We will try and locate her once we have our Sisters with Finder crafts with us. Keep faith, lover. I won't let anything happen to your child." Bronwyn was trying to sound more positive than she felt. She still did not even know the identity of the one behind all this." **************** "Don't try to pretend to still be asleep, slut. I know you are awake." The voice talking to her was slightly familiar. "Open your eyes, bitch!" The slap that followed opened her eyes quite effectively. Jacqui could not move her legs or her arms. Looking down she saw some type of glowing bands encircling her upper torso and arms, and her thighs and ankles. Then she looked up and saw the hard, dark features of someone she recognized. "You... I... I know you. You work with Professor Stevens..... at school." "Yes. A useful puppet, that one. Easily susceptible to the Power of the Dark One. Unlike you. I cannot influence you, and I tried while you were unconscious. All of you men- turned-women are resistant. I was unable to turn any of you. It is too bad. For you, that is." His face showed pleasure that thought. Jacqui cringed. "Who are you? Why am I here?" Jacqui tried to control her fear, tried to sound powerful instead of pitiful, but to her own ears, she failed. Lancaster laughed. "I? Who am I? I am Erich Lancaster, president of Lancaster Electronics and High Leader of the Brotherhood of the Dark One. And you, little witch, are here to be the instrument of my total victory over your sorry Sisterhood." He smiled at the horror in her eyes. "Yes, your son will be my son, and he will be High Leader after me. He will have the Power of the Dark One and will be immune to your puny magicks because he will be of the Sisterhood, as well. My son will span the millennia old schism between our two factions, and will lead the Brotherhood to their rightful victory." Pleased to have an audience for his greatness, Lancaster decided to tell his captive the whole of his plan. "And then, the Brotherhood will be free to dominate the world again. Not through force of arms. No, Brother Hitler taught us the futility of that path. We have been fifty years regaining our strength after that debacle. We cannot fight the entire world on the physical level. Our power is great, but still limited. Eventually the shear weight of numbers that would ally against us would again defeat us." "No, this time, we will win by using the power of the computer married to the Power of the Dark One. That is how we found your Sisters that we captured, and how we discovered you. Your cult's ways of hiding identities that have changed with their sex were adequate twenty five years ago, even perhaps ten years ago. No longer. Even if you tried to somehow find and change every record on the Internet, my records are sealed magically." "Now, I will use it to attack, as well. A magically created computer virus is ready to be loosed on the world. Once it infects a computer, it lays dormant until I order it to act. The computer does not even need to be connected to the Web any longer so there is no defense against it. Whole systems can be lost, or corrupted or externally operated by me. Controlling computers can be made to malfunction. The modern world will either accede to our demands or society will end. No electricity. No air travel. Communications disrupted and lost. It will be a return to the Stone Age because even those tools that do not require computers to work, require something that is controlled by a computer to work. I call my little virus the Second Black Plague for its effects will be as far reaching in this time as the original Plague was in the Europe of the Middle Ages." "It is like cyber-biological warfare." Jacqui whispered. "Indeed it is. I knew you would appreciate the genius of this. I knew it from the way you used computers at your school and at your home. Ahh. You did not know I was eavesdropping on your accounts? Easily. You are very talented. It is one of the reasons I chose you as the Mother of my Son. You and I have a rare combination of computer talent and the potential to wield magic. Very few have both, but you and I both do. Talents we will bequeath to our son." "But why? Why alert the Sisterhood with your attacks? It makes no sense if you already had this weapon." Jacqui's mind was clearing now. Lancaster did not know that she was already pregnant. What would he do if he found out? Kill her? Or simply kill her child and then get his child on her afterwards. She had to protect Marc's child. She had to play for time. "Why attack your so-sacred Sisterhood of emasculated crones? Because the power they use to perpetuate themselves is an abomination in the eyes of the Dark One. Because they have opposed us time and again in the past and have caused us shame in the eyes of the Dark One. You take from men the Power of the Dark One. I do not want them and their un-maled whelps upon the earth when we achieve our victory. I want them to die knowing that they could not stop that final victory." Jacqui's intuition flared, and she heard the unwitting emphasis on the words "emasculated" and "power they used to perpetuate" and "un-maled". With all her will, she forced her face muscles into something approximating a smile. "You fear the Transformation." she said with absolute confidence and assurance. "Its not that the Sisterhood deterred your group in time-forgotten ages. You are afraid. You're terrified that you will wake up some morning with tits and a cunt." A vicious backhand slap rocked Jacqui back onto the cot she'd been laid on. "Stupid Bitch!" he roared. "I fear nothing about your puling Sisterhood, least of all the weak magicks of their impotent Goddess." He raised his fist to strike her again, but suddenly stopped with his hand still above his head. He seemed to shudder and then slowly lowered the hand as he composed his furious features. "No. You won't get off that easily, little witch. I know you don't have the power to oppose me because you have not yet given birth or suckled a child. You cannot make me kill you now. Oh, no, not until we pull my son from your bleeding and dying body." He turned and strode to the room's only door. "You will be fed and cared for to keep you healthy. After you finish your next menses, we will monitor you for ovulation. As the time approaches, we will inseminate you daily. I might even do it, myself, naturally, once or twice. You will give me my son, witch, and he will destroy the last remnants of your cursed sect." And with that, he disappeared through the door, slamming it behind him. He's mad, Jacqui thought, but he can do what he said. At least the impregnation part. As for his Black Plague, she just did not know enough about magic to know if he could magically activate it, but the infection was possible. She felt so alone. She started to think that she wanted her Mother, but that brought on another grim thought. That man had already killed at least one, probably more Sisters. If her gentle Mother came to rescue her, there was every reason to believe he'd kill Mum, too. Jacqui could not stand that thought. She herself, was probably already as good as dead, but her capture would probably alert Bronwyn and her friends. Maybe they could find clues that would lead them to Lancaster. If they found her, they would come running and would run straight into him, in the kind of direct confrontation that favored the killing power of the Dark Power over the subtle power of the Goddess. Grimly, Jacqui tried to shield her mind. She had to "hide" herself away from Bronwyn and her Mother. They had to find a different way to Lancaster - one that would give them time to plan, instead of reacting to her capture. With all the power at her command, Jacqui closed her eyes, and tried to close her mind as well. End Part 20 - Continued in Part 21 -- +----------------' Story submission `-+-' Moderator contact `--------------+ | | | | Archive site +----------------------+--------------------+ Newsgroup FAQ | ----