Vampires in Space

Flying Mom

Nakoma recovered her manners first. "I'm sorry, Heather, but you said your husband and daughter are down on the sidewalk? Should we ask them to join us up here? Assuming they are OK with our state of dress?"

"That would be very nice. I am sure given what we came here to talk about that how people are dressed or not is not really of primary concern." Heather said.

"Then let's go downstairs and get them." Nakoma waved toward the sliding glass doors to our home and the elevator lobby beyond. "I can slip into a robe and sandals quickly."

"No need, Nakoma. Thank you. I can get them. They are used to my carrying them around. Been doing it for years now. Give me a moment. Two minutes, tops. Might need to duck into an alleyway to get out of sight below." Heather said.

"OK..." Nakoma trailed off. "Carrying them around?"

Heather Adam's answer was to fade from view.

"OK. That's a neat trick." Nakoma said with two very escalated eyebrows.

"You weren't looking when Heather appeared. Reading your screen. Like your dad when reading. Bombs could go off around him when in the tunnel. Same with you. Anyway: Adrian and I saw her fade in. Up there." Rachel pointed up to where Heather had first appeared and at the same time glanced about to see if she could see Heather anywhere.

I did the same thing, in more bands than Rachel has available to her standard Vampire sensorium. Even with my extra special edition rods and cones: Nothing. When Heather Adams fades, she does a good job of it. I tapped my lips with a forefinger and extrapolated from the data at hand. "I guess Heather controls more than kinetic energy. Photons? Electromagnetic waves? Energy at a more fundamental level? Somehow does not interact with light?"

"How, Dad?" Nakoma asked. "Heather has on no devices I could see. All of those things are beyond modern tech anyway. Mostly. I mean sure: Invisibility or stealth tech is possible. Takes special stuff, which she did not have. That would show. Military stuff would be big and bulky and take a fair bit of power. Or special exotic materials that would not have an on-off switch. If it was as simple as a polarization thing, you could still see her in other bands. Stealth tech like that does not explain flying! Unless that is somehow how she also gets her power?"

"That is the thing, Nakoma. Heather had on no tech at all." I assured my daughter. "I scanned her in every band I have and you know how many that is. You have looked into my eyes a ton of times. She has the earbud. A watch, which is recent tech and high-end. There is no way it can do more than communications and wrist computer stuff. Other than that, she had on sandals, jeans, panties, a bra, a shirt, and a jacket. Regular human female-looking skin under that. Nothing in her pockets. No wallet. No vehicle controller or remote controls of any kind." I took a beat to consider and added "Also: Heather said she has a daughter. Does not show on her body. No stretch marks. No c-sect scars. No spread of hip bones. Her nipples and breasts did not appear to ever have been filled with or provided milk to a child. Could have been a bottle baby, but there are still physical changes to the human body that remain. I'm not a doctor but I am related to a fair few. Enough to know how a baby affects a woman's body. Unless she is already a Vampire and her body recovers like ours does, she does not look like she ever had a kid. She does not scent like a Vampire either."

Nakoma looked amused. "Given all she seems to know about us and Vampires, I wonder if she knows you can scan her like that. She might as well be naked. She kept offering to be. She pretty much was to you."

"I was not looking to be a voyeur. A flying woman floated into my day. I was going to do a threat assessment. Morgan would have done the same thing if she was out here."

"I know you aren't a perv, Dad. Be serious."

Rachel sighed. "Man, did my plans get derailed just now."