The Offices of M. Coopersmith

Chapter Nine

Had Chris or Samantha looked back they might have noticed that, as soon as they were off, M.  Coopersmith’s broad smile vanished.  But that was only the beginning of the change that took place in his appearance.  Turning away, he prepared to set aside the visage of M. Coopersmith, a mask he had worn for so long it felt almost—but not quite—like it was the real him.  He had delayed transforming until now, but in order to do battle properly with the Sky Eel, he could no longer wait.  All the while keeping his eyes trained on the patch of ground from which he expected the Sky Eel to emerge, M. Coopersmith allowed his human guise to dissipate.  His legs and torso expanded, lengthened, until he stood more than eight feet in height; his skin darkened from white to pale blue; his thumb, middle, and index fingers combined to form a single digit, as did his pinkie and ring fingers.  His clothing melted into armor of a slightly darker shade than his skin; an armor that was, in fact, organic to his tremendous body.  His face narrowed even as his head enlarged to triple the size of a man's, in the process becoming domed rather than round; his eyes widened and blackened over, turning opaque; his mouth shrank to a tiny—and, in fact, non-functional—slit.

And now, he thought, for the best part.

From the joints of his elbows two long blades extended, curving around so that they ran parallel to his forearms and out past his hands, to end in sharp hooked tips.  These blades, like the armor, were in fact a part of the alien's body.  The skeletons of creatures such as M. Coopersmith were not kept wholly inside, like the mammals of Terra, nor outside, like the planet's insects, but instead were borne as a combination of the two, interlocking and blending with the hard blue flesh, sometimes exposed, sometimes not.

Like the Sky Eels, M. Coopersmith and his kind were able to produce a powerful internal voltage.  The only difference was that a Sky Eel administered the lethal energy through its jaws; for M. Coopersmith, it would be his elbow blades.

Now, transformation complete, he waited.

M. Coopersmith had not said so before, but he had an additional reason for staying in human form until the last minute.  He had developed a set of personality traits as a human being that did not carry over to his true self.  His desire to protect both the Remnant and the two young humans with him would have remained intact, but his expression of that desire would have been different, rougher, colder.  Not good for dealing with young humans—though for a Sky Eel, perfect.

The ground shook.

It was almost here...

***

Chris and Samantha hurried toward the five-acre expanse that had been cleared along the Summerville River.  Glancing back, they could no longer see M. Coopersmith, as their view was blocked by the cast-off materials of industry.

Panting, Chris set down the Remnant.  "I hope this is the right place," he said to Samantha.

"Me too." 

***

The Sky Eel exploded from the earth in a whirlwind of dirt and torn roots, and the reaction of M. Coopersmith, armored alien warrior, was different from the one he would have had as M. Coopersmith, genteel Southern businessman.  The present M. Coopersmith was glad to see the monster, thrilled even.  He had yearned to kill a Sky Eel for a very long time now, almost as far back as he could remember, and disposing of it by means of a trap, as he had done with the other Sky Eel, brought only the barest satisfaction. 

But to kill one personally...that would be superb.

Limited in its faculties, the Sky Eel nevertheless recognized its quarry had taken on a new and fearsome visage.  It also detected that the Remnant was farther out, and so it bolted into the sky, keen to avoid a confrontation with this far more formidable version of M. Coopersmith.