06 Six

Major Wallace had not looked forward to Tuesday night as he was to receive no sleep. He had to schedule his briefings for some point each week when he could spend eight to ten hours communicating with the base as to how his mission was coming along even though the briefings rarely took more than an hour or two. Only a day had passed since his energy was stolen by Sin the energivore, but he had managed to convince her that he was ill and not alert her to her abilities.
Sarah, or Sin, did not appear to be aware of her power to suck the energy out of other beings. Not a surprise, since humans were one of the least vulnerable species in the world. Major Wallace, being a shape shifter, was much more susceptible to her powers. The only experience Major Wallace could imagine that she could have noticed would most likely be construed as cats and dogs just enjoying a nap in her lap.
He was able to communicate with her easily without touching her and again having the energy sapped out of him, but her existence complicated his mission and would be a major aspect of his briefing that night.
He laid on his bed and watched the clock change to nine p.m. There was nothing left but to keep his nodes of communication open for the messages from the base. He lay back in the youthful bed atop the red and black bedspread that constantly reminded Major Wallace he was subbing in for a child. The air felt crisp as the temperature had turned cool inside the house bringing Major Wallace to a good state of relaxation when words began to fill his head.
‘Please report, Major. What is the status of your target’s transition?’ The familiar yet official words clamored around in his brain.
Major Wallace focused his thoughts in preparation for the telepathy for which, after just a few days, he was sorely out of practice. He tried to express himself in full sentences, but he was only able to extend general thoughts.
The base received and recorded the odd broken thoughts as ‘physical transition began, social transition began, behavioral transition began.’
The clerk who was transcribing the report sent out another transmission. ‘There seems to be interference with your transmission. I am in front of a keyboard and am going to switch over to automatic writing. I will send a personality packet to you so you can write the report yourself.’
The switch was common for a new Psi Guard clerk. The switch to automatic writing only meant that the clerk was too lazy to transcribe and preferred to give control of his body over to the soldier who was reporting. It annoyed Major Wallace turning his night from a meditative telepathy to a more exhaustive night of body possession, but his telepathy skills were too weak to argue.
He sat up in the boy’s bed and focused on relaxing his body. He forced his toes numb, then his feet, his legs… Before long Major Wallace sat in the bed eyes closed with a vision of just his floating head unattached to anybody. He let his spirit drift away into the space of the bedroom. Opening his spiritual eyes he could see himself propped up on the bed, back leaned against the wall. Seeing one’s self was an odd experience the first few times, but for someone like Major Wallace this was just a confirmation that he could still leave his body.
The travel to the base was instantaneous and not something that was visually describable. Instead it was more of existing inside a tunnel of the sense of touch, a vortex of sensation that stimulated his non-existent body from the outside.
Once he reached the base he immediately found the clerk whose personality had conveniently been transmitted to his brain. The boy was young and youthful, but suffered from one of the most common ailments of soldiers, buyer’s remorse. After realizing what he had gotten himself into with his eight year commitment to his country, he wanted out, but it was not an option. Instead he would spend his nights forking over his body to strange military men so they could type up reports without having to waste taxpayer’s dollars on extra computers or long distance communication. He was there because he was cheaper than technology. The human brain was capable of these great feats as long as there was a willing body on the other end.
Major Wallace drifted down from the rafters of the small army building and soaked his spirit into the body of the young clerk. The tenseness in the boy’s shoulders, the aroma of his new self, and the excessive amounts of energy running through his hands gave him more input on what it would be like to be a kid like Drew instead of just impersonating him. It made him realize how much more he was like a teenager when he was at the school as opposed to being at home.
He opened the eyes of the clerk and reached out for the keyboard. Knowing that there were generals waiting to read the report in real time on their PCs, Major Wallace immediately began typing.

Physical Transition
Status:
The physical transition has begun. On an hourly basis I am making visual modifications to my appearance so that upon the return of Private Darby to his body, his new physique that basic has given him will not alert the civilians in his life. The visual changes amount to less than a millimeter change per hour in the perceived fat and muscle on the body.
Requirements:
In order to portray the correct visual of Private Darby I will require daily updates on the visual transformation of his body along with a projected finished product.
Behavioral Transition
Status:
The behavioral transition has begun. On a daily basis I have transitioned the family to become accustomed to both physical activities such as running and working out as well as changes in respect and manners. I have also been acquainting his classmates to a slightly adjusted attitude with an attempt at new friendships and courtesy toward others.
Requirements:
None
Social Transition
Status:
The social transition has begun. A new friendship has been created during the time the Private has spent away from home. It is with a young girl by the name of Sarah who prefers the alias Sin. She is considered a gothic by modern standards with a draw toward the negative.
Requirements:
In order for Private Darby to assimilate back into his life he will need to be briefed multiple times about the new connections his body has made with complete synopsis of who they are and what he knows about them.
Notes:
There is an issue with Private Darby’s new friendship. The girl who goes by Sin is an unaware energivore. She has sapped my energy…

Major Wallace felt an enormous tug from the back of his head. He went limp as his soul ejected from the young clerk’s body. Someone had yanked on his silver cord, a tether of sorts that connects the soul to its original body, and now he was traveling through space back to his shape-shifted body.
It was less than a couple of seconds when he found himself sitting on Drew’s bed just as he had been before he possessed the clerk to write his report. The only difference was that he was staring at the Psy Ops force General who had evidently just teleported to the location. The man was huge, an easy seven feet tall and over four hundred pounds. General Pounder was what the man demanded to be called; of course, it was unknown if that was his real name or one that he created as an alias to his civilian identity.
He stood there in his well decorated uniform dwarfing anything that happened to be near him. His squared-off jaw tensed from side to side as he waited for Major Wallace to regain his composure before he began yelling. Once Major Wallace realized what was in store he opened his mouth to remind the General that there were unsecured civilians within the home who would be within earshot of the tirade. It was the staleness of the air and lack of traffic noise from outside the window that clued him to the fact that General Pounder had stopped time. He closed his mouth waiting for the tirade.
“You come across a restricted being that attacked you, government property, and you wait to inform us by a briefing?” The General was fuming with anger. His face was getting pinker by the second and to the Major’s astonishment, he seemed to be growing in size as well.
“General Pounder, sir. I was never in any danger because the girl is unaware of her abilities.”
“I do not care what she is aware of. She has attacked a soldier in the United States Army. Because of that she should be apprehended, and it should be made sure that she has no knowledge of Lucky or his army.” There was a pause as Pounder contemplated the situation. “I should have you thrown in the brig for this.”
“Sir, she is of no danger and I mean no disrespect, but there is no need to bring her in just to find out she knows nothing. I can handle her; she is still in high school for Christ’s sake.” The Major spoke of her school status as opposed to her age as he vividly recalled her looking older than the others. He cringed at the return fire he would receive from the comment, but when he is being threatened with incarceration he had to present a rebuttal.
“So be it. You will not be held accountable given that you obtain all necessary information from this Sin before you put another soldier in danger when Private Darby returns to his life.” General Pounder was calming with an obvious decrease in blood circulation as he crept back toward his normal skin tone. He took a deep breath and whispered to Major Wallace, “Major, don’t let that girl find out what she is capable of.”
There were no goodbyes or salutes, the world just faded away as the General dissipated into the air. The air went back to its normal feel and the street outside began to rumble with traffic. Major Wallace was left with no comfort, just an additional mission.
Interrogate Sin. ‘Shouldn’t be too hard a quest’ thought Major Wallace. ‘I just need to make sure she doesn’t physically touch me.’ He had no idea how hard that might be.