Both car doors opened at once, Kim flung open her door and hurled her dinner upon the amphibian covered blacktop. As she threw up, Sam got out of the driver seat in a rush, eager to look behind them at what he had hit. She wiped her mouth with a tissue from her purse and looked down. Her vomit was squirming away on the backs of the creatures. It swirled haphazardly in her watery eyes. She was mesmerized for a second. It reminded her of a visualizer that some computer programs simulated along with music, which drove home the unreality of the whole experience. She turned to see what Sam was looking at. The world was in slow motion, drifting and distant from her. The slick road was glowing red behind the car from the tail lights. It washed over Sam and the little shadows that hopped their way across the road. Sam stood over whatever it was they had hit. He was a lost island in a bubbling lake of red and black. She could have sworn he was a vampire, maybe she was right. He hit a button on his phone and pointed the white glow toward the lump he had hit. It was considerably larger than the rest of the toads. It lay in the lane with its back up about six feet away from the car. Sam wanted to take a funny picture to show his friends and maybe take a bump while he was out here. He bent down over his victim. The toad was almost too big to fit in his cupped hands. Sam turned it over to see its stomach. The first thing he noticed was the armor the toad was wearing. He let out a sharp chuckle and looked up, yelling back to the car. “Hey this fucker’s got a Halloween costume on, like a little silver jacket! I think I killed some kid’s pet!” He looked down at the toad again. The thing’s tongue hung out, but began to draw into its mouth. The toad’s head was injured and it tried to move, but all it could manage was to roll its eyes at him. Summoning great will and forcing its useless limb to motion, it started to reach its hand slowly toward its vest. The toad made little noises that Sam couldn’t make out, but that his addled brain insisted were words. The hand came away from the vest and produced a metal rod with a red light on top. Sam smiled and waited to see if it would do something cute. The toad spoke a final exclamation that Sam could not decipher, then hit the button. Sam’s final thought was that this must be some sort of jihad-frog, maybe the CIA had trained it. Kim had heard him shout about the toad and was looking over her seat back at him. She saw him look down at a bright red glow on the toad’s tummy. Then she heard the loudest sound she had ever heard, coupled with the brightest light she had ever seen. Then there was nothing, except pain.

1

 “Is the woman secure?” General Troya turned away from the screen and faced his subordinate. Major Mason replied in the affirmative. “Good work soldier, see to  her when she wakes up. Those sedatives should wear off soon and it’s been only intravenous fluids for her since we got her.” The general turned back to the giant screen mounted on the wall. The screen was currently displaying a map of the world. The various sites of ongoing operations were illuminated in red. The general stroked the pair of long tendrils which hung from his chin like a beard. He was the image of a veteran military commander. His uniform jacket was crisp, hat pristine and his dubiously legitimate decorations were displayed proudly on his left breast. His long green hands were clasped behind his back and he stood stiff and straight.

        All Anura Mundus operations could be managed from this room, coordinated by the General and his staff. The landing he and Mason stood on was a curved area at the top of the room, doors led to two offices directly behind him or out to the hallway. The floor sloped away from the landing to the far wall, which housed the big screen. The General stared in distant contemplation. Louisiana was going according to plan. Australia was firmly established and the subterranean terraforming efforts were right on schedule. Minnesota and Oregon were also firmly in hand. Covert ops on the east coast were always challenging and he had lost another cell earlier this morning, but soon the White House and Washington would be on its knees. The biggest problem with cities were the dogs and cats. Humans never thought twice about the toads, but the pets could smell them out. They smelled different than regular toads and that always brought attention. Too much protein. He would have to speak with R&D. “...see about some pheromones or something”, he thought to himself. He noticed a flashing light on the map, in Africa. He barked an order to the room. “Get Sahara Ops on the line and get an update, I want to know what just happened!” The room came to life as half a dozen giant toads scrambled to look busy. Immediate response was the only satisfactory response, as far as the General was concerned. Troya turned to look over his right shoulder and sent the major out of the room. “Major, start her on a tank for those bruises and then begin the augmentation therapy.”

 “Sir!” The major gave a smart salute and turned on his heel, stiffly marching until he was out of the General’s sight. Then he relaxed a little. He exhaled a deep breath and it took the urgency from his stride. He thought about his leader and the changes that he had seen over the years. The General's gradual insistence on militarism made him bitter. His clutch was a shining achievement in the General’s breeding program. The first of six to be successfully modified after the General’s own genetic structure. In all, eighteen hundred toads were spawned from those clutches and each had their own clutch of three hundred, which had new genetics spliced into it along with their progenitor’s DNA. The ultimate aim of this genetic research was to fulfill the General’s dream of transformation. Not to personally transform, but to transform the modern world into a better and simpler system. A new divine vision of the world, with clear intention and a bright future. Troya's Anura Mundus: Frog World, the world reborn clean and pure into its natural majesty once more, with the Anura order of the animal kingdom ushering the way. At first, the General had been with Lilith and had been a fuller being. Without her influence, Troya's fear was beginning to turn things in another direction. Aggression was seeping into his intention for the movement. He didn't seem to notice.

 Mason stopped in the hallway outside the transport room, he was reminded of some business he had been meaning to look in to and accessed the communication function of the silver bracer over his right wrist. He raised it up to his face and spoke:“ Nisbet, did we ever get any new intelligence on Lilith?”

 His subordinate and clutch-mate, Captain Nisbet, was running the office today. His nasal voice was almost comical, but it grated Mason. There was a distinct Jim Henson quality about the man's voice that rankled Mason.

        “Unfortunately, no, sir. She's a clever one and we think that she's gone underground. We are still actively pursuing, but I don't think she'll make contact. Until then, we will just have to stumble across her.” Nisbet was hesitant to say that last bit, it was risky to disappoint. Mason paused as he stepped on to the teleport pad.

 “Just keep me aware of the situation commander, I want to be the first to know anything you discover.”

 “Yes, sir.” As Mason plugged the information for the teleporter into his arm band, he thought that he would have to find a way to get Nisbet to sing It's Not Easy Being Green. He chuckled once and teleported away to check on the prisoner.

2

    Kim was dazed and shaken, groggy from the sedatives they had given her. She woke to find a large toad standing over her hospital bed. Mason alone had greeted her as she was roused from her sedation. The drugs hung on. She felt like a warm little boat, bobbing on a sea of bliss. Sometimes the bliss rose up, but that was okay. If she went under, it would be into the cozy safety of dreamless sleep. She asked a cotton-mouthed, slurred question. He didn't respond to her question, but immediately and swiftly launched into his “briefing”, as he called it. She listened intently through that sheet of warm fuzz. She was not seriously hurt, but bruised pretty good. Her head buzzed, but she was not in pain. Kim was fairly sure she was dreaming, which bypassed the sense of disbelief she'd had regarding the giant talking toad in the army outfit. She remembered a cartoon from her childhood with this frog that sang and danced, but only for one man. The rest of the time, the toad just sat there, a croaking lump. She tried to imagine Mason in a top hat and a jacket, which made her laugh.

        She observed that she and the dream toad were the same height, for which Kim had no explanation. By her reasoning; either he had enlarged himself, was naturally abnormally huge, or had shrunk her down to his level. In all, she thought that the toad must have been very considerate. She reminded herself that she had been drugged and so dismissed this thought. Still, she smiled up at him. He helped her to her feet and explained that she would stay in a medicine tank for a couple days, then be right as rain. Mason also revealed to her that the General wanted her to undergo a gene therapy, but that Mason didn't want her to do it. She said that she didn't either. So the major explained that she wouldn't and that she would be given a replacement treatment. Only her nurse, himself and Kim would know about. Kim said that he was nice and wondered aloud why he was so big. She heard him tell her that she had been shrunk down, but her boat capsized in that contented sea and she nodded off. While she dozed the major carried her to their destination.

 The pair arrived in the medical facility and it was pretty well deserted. They walked down empty corridors, Kim leaned against Mason and he guided her along until they found a nurse that Mason recognized. “I will leave you in nurse Taggart’s very capable hands.” The major made their introductions and politely excused himself away to attend to important business, the nature of which he did not disclose. Kim was coming out of the fog and her faculties were clearing. She observed that the nurses were without clothing and Kim imagined that the toads must be more comfortable that way. So why the uniforms at all? Mind tricks, she thought. People would immediately be effected by the image of authority.

 The nurse tried to make her feel comfortable as she guided Kim to the tanks. Nurse Taggart went on and on about the nature of the facility, and its history, and the General's grand vision. Kim barely heard her, taking in the vastness of the place had distracted her from Taggart's words. She had to remind herself that she had been shrunk down to toad scale, so the place was actually very small, but it seemed grand in its spartan elegance. It was brightly lit with indirect light, so the whole of the dome seemed to glow white as if it were the inside of a light bulb. Kim looked around in amazement, lost in the wonder of this new place. They had approached the row of medical baths and a tap at her elbow surprised her out of her trance. Nurse Taggart prompted Kim to get in. She spent three days healing from her injuries. As she soaked, she had time to contemplate all of this and to ask questions of the nurse toads that tended to her. Her questioning was not very fruitful, she didn't understand half of the answers she was given. She decided to give up asking and just wait to see things for herself. She was sure of one thing, she did not want to meet this General Troya.

 Her nurses were Jamie Taggart and Marcus, whose last name she didn’t get. Jamie was the most vocal with her. She and Kim talked at length when Jamie wasn't busy, but most of the time she was quickly gone after replacing the iv bag or checking Kim's vitals. Her time in the tank had also given her the opportunity to observe the toads physical characteristics. Kim had originally had a lot of difficulty telling one toad from another. The differences in their markings and the shades of skin were subtle. But she quickly developed an eye for the distinctions between their features.

    When she got out of the tank, Kim was given a pill for her gene therapy that she was told to take (with a small wink from Jamie) twice a day. In addition, she would report to Taggart once a week until it had been determined that her therapy was a success. She was given back her clothes, freshly laundered and smelling clean. On top of the bundle of clothes was a silver band like the one Mason wore.  It seemed that all the toads wore them, at least the ones that she saw. She took a few minutes to examine and contemplate the device.

 It looked like a smooth and featureless silver band, no seams or clasps or buttons, just a continuous surface that tapered from the wrist to about six inches up the forearm. She touched it softly and although it didn't seem to move, an opening appeared. She picked the band up and rolled it over her right wrist. As she did so, the band softened and her skin burned a little. It reminded her of stinging nettles. Silver threads crawled out from it along her skin, she watched their progress with fascination. She wondered if she could teleport with it and guessed that that was not likely. As she finished dressing, the wristband started flashing. She pressed the flashing light and a holographic map of the installation appeared. There was a blip that showed her location, in a bubble labeled medical labs. There was also a flashing indicator near the region labeled teleporters. She had played enough video games to know a target destination when she saw one and this thought made her laugh. It was a good laugh, she was surprised at the lack of nervousness she felt. She proceeded to the teleporters without reservation. She stepped onto the pad and disappeared into the blue light again.

3

 The wristband flashed when she reappeared, it was a new map that showed a blip near the living quarters, which were labeled as the medical labs had been. She followed the new indicator down the halls. There hadn't been much traffic in the medical area she had come from, but this building was a bustle of activity. Toads that were much larger than her were pushing around each other, making slow progress to their various destinations, but she found that they all gave her a wide berth as she worked her way through the crowd. No one made eye contact or talked to her, all of them ignored her. Still, she couldn't shake the feeling of eyes on her from all sides. It made her extremely uncomfortable and self-conscious. She hurried her way down the bright tubular halls toward her blip. Much to her relief, the major was waiting for her at the door. He greeted her warmly and explained that she had been given a generously large and comfortable suite as a token of good faith. He also explained that she would have a free week before starting her duties, to familiarize herself with her suite, the labs and the wristband. Mason opened the door and Kim stepped in to her futuristic, space-bubble apartment.

        Her living area was complete with all the amenities a person could want. It boasted a bedroom, private bathroom, kitchen, common area with Wi-Fi, TV and internet access, a universal workout machine and a small lab. The lab itself was a marvel; it had a workroom, complete with a computer with access to information databases, chemical, medical and biological lab equipment and other tools from all the various sciences. She spent the first two days messing around with the band. Hers was not a weapon, or at least that function was disabled. She established that it was also not a teleportation device. It seemed that the thing responded to touch and to thought, the silver threads that she had seen in Mason's palm and her own were wired into the spine and received signals straight from the brain. Over all, the thing was amazing. The device was able to scan anything she desired, sending the information straight to her brain. It was like those flip open recorder/analyzer things they always used in SCI-FI shows, she would point the band at something and suddenly know anything about its structure that she wished. With the band, she could even interface with her computer, using it to make her words appear on the screen by thinking them or move the cursor for general operations within the user interface. It seemed that the band's potential was limited only by her own thoughts. There were often times, when she was thinking of something she didn't fully understand, that a light would begin to flash on the wrist device. Upon pressing it, she became aware of information about whatever she had been considering. The band sent it straight to her senses. It seemed to her that the information just took over her thoughts, presenting itself in the best way for her to absorb it.

 When she was younger her father had taught her a game involving looking up a word in the dictionary or encyclopedia. If that word had any words in its entry that she didn't know, she would look them up as well. She tried a similar thing with her wristband. She spent most of that first week gathering information. She went through every source the device and computer could access, in the Anura Mundus databases and on the web. As she poured through the database, she began to get an idea of the nature of the toad incursion across the world. Everything the major had said was corroborated by multiple sources of documentation. She read through mission reports and maps, studied proposals that were on file for large scale projects and copied everything she thought was significant into the armband. During her daily exercise period, she processed that stored information and tried to paint a picture for herself as she ran on the treadmill.

        It seems that the Anura Mundus had managed to put out pro-environmental propaganda blurbs on media that indirectly prevented human interference in their major operations. The everglades and the swamps along the gulf coast were the total domain and primary stronghold of the genetically altered toads. They held all of the energy resources there in a subtle fist of iron, and were poised to decimate all of those operations in a moment. For the time being this remained a secret, no threat had been made to humanity and the humans had not yet discovered the camouflaged and minute devices that would shut down that infrastructure. The toads had also taken over the Great Lakes area of the United States and Canada. It seemed that strongest front and the second most important site was the continent of Australia, where they had invaded by force. Kim was amazed that the real significance of the Australian toad invasion had been so completely misconstrued by humanity. The toads had constructed elaborate underground aqueducts and farms, when the time was right, she was almost positive that they would begin a slow upheaval to the surface, transforming the desert into a lush swamp. They were planning something similar in Africa, underneath the Sahara desert. It turned out that it was a variety of African frogs that had lent the Anura Mundus their claws and had been all too willing to help them build a place of their own. They even had giant salamanders working with them in Japan and China. They had installations in the remote jungles of South America and Southeast Asia, mostly cane toads again. These were their newest places of incursion. Even Europe and Russia had a secret toad presence. The whole of humanity was unknowingly surrounded and thoroughly infiltrated by the amphibians.

        The implications for consciousness on the face of the earth were staggering. Questions raced through her head. How had they managed to creep in so silently and thoroughly unnoticed? The organization on this scale was remarkable! Was it a clearer innate intelligence or some evolved social sharing ability that the Anura Mundus possessed? Maybe it was that they were united in a purpose in which they all believed. Something valuable to pursue. She knew that wasn't true, at least Mason and Nurse Taggart didn't buy it. She assumed that there were others who felt the same. She was floored by the potential she saw being exercised around her by simple things that she had once dissected in science class. She remembered what they looked like on the inside. Just look at what they had accomplished. And the world that she had come from was none the wiser, didn't that really say something? Even if the Anura Mundus was building toward destruction, that momentum could be changed. What better to endear the toads to the humans than providing the third world with all of the food they could need? This Anura Mundus machine could change the world for the better if it was used right. The people of the earth could make the change for themselves, with the invisible helping hand of the toads. She was sure that the General wouldn't be the right person for that job, but was the resistance any better? Was she? She was getting exhausted after contemplating such massive things, but it was on a scale that thrilled her to understand. Like watching a pattern weaving itself into a tapestry as she thought about it and jogged on the treadmill.

4

    After that first week, she was feeling pretty good. As she walked down the halls, she said hello to everyone she passed. Though no one stopped to chat, some did respond to her which made her feel better adjusted to her new environment. She reported to work early, ready to put her best foot forward. She pressed the button that opened the door to the sterile white lab.

 There were private cubicles, lab benches made of steel within tinted glass boxes that supported silent fume hoods over the tables. The greater laboratory itself was a large dome, the smaller lab cubes were arranged in a half circle around the middle of the room that curved away from the door. There were no signs of activity and the separation of the lab spaces seemed to indicate a division of labor. Which usually meant that the product of the research was something the higher ups didn't want the workers to understand. The lab to the far right was her work space, so she proceeded to it. It was locked and only her wristband could open it. She waved her arm in front of the door and the door opened for her, revealing a spacious little compartment that seemed substantially bigger on the inside than it was outside. A complete stock of equipment, chemicals and biological components (e.g., cell cultures, amino acids, proteins, samples of frequently used elements) were all available within. In addition there was a large display screen mounted in the wall, between the fume hood and the bench that the hood covered. This screen displayed any information she wished to project onto it from the wristband, as well as any incoming communications.

        She worked on all sorts of projects, mostly of a biological nature. She ran replications of other people’s experiments, but every once in awhile she got her own project. Sometimes projects related to other branches of science came across her desk and it was out of these projects that she gained the most enjoyment. She loved the challenge of new subject matter. For one study, she analyzed telemetry from geological observatory sites around the world and compiled simulations that would compare that new data to the records, allowing her to make projections about what seismic events were imminent. It was a lot of work and she did it around the clock, but she was happy to be absorbed in the challenge.

 It was two months before she saw Major Mason again, she still hadn't met the General. Her lab display turned on, going from inert blackness to the modern white glow of imminent activity. She was busily examining and recording the growth of various bacterium in petri dishes to perfect inborn immune defenses in a future egg clutch. She looked up from her work in irritation at the interruption, but her expression quickly changed to relief as she recognized the major. He explained that he needed something from her, it was time to do a real job.

5

 The resistance was ready for a strike, but first they would need Kim to copy some files to the General’s servers. These files replaced the data on a subject named Lilith. Kim had the files transferred to her armband. They would be delivered to the computers via a subspace transmission that would render the security systems oblivious to the upload. Shortly after Mason disappeared from the screen, an audio transmission patched through the comm system in her lab. An unknown and artificial female voice told her that the General would see her, as it did so a light flashed on her armband. She activated the map and followed the indicator to the General’s command center.

 She arrived at the door. Her nerves were worn thin with the anticipation of the sabotage she was about to commit. She had self-doubt bubbling up inside her, but she forced it down with a deep breath. She opened the door, brushing her hair back as she did so. Her hands fell naturally and she held them together just below her stomach, placing the left hand over her right wrist as she did so and pressing the button on the band as subtly as she could manage. The file transfer was happening and no one seemed the wiser.

 The General stood on the landing, fake medals glittering in the flourescent light. He was about average toad size, which was a couple of inches taller than her since the major had shrunk her down to enter the Anura Mundus. His skin was mottled brown and green and he had a sparse smattering of black stripes all over, large on his back, but thinning up to his tan-olive colored head. He turned to her as she came in. His eyes were striking and it sent her a step back. They were blue and very human looking, outlined naturally with a double black stripe like a pharaoh’s eye liner. She felt as if reality were bending around her for a second, the feeling faded away as the General spoke. “Greetings Kim, I trust you are fitting in comfortably here?”, he smiled in a gesture that was meant to seem friendly, but the smile revealed viscous looking, needle-like teeth. “Uh, yes, I am quite comfortable, thank you.”, Kim felt herself get a little shaky when she saw those predator teeth. Coupled with the blue eyes, it made the General seem like a horror show mutant. She wanted to be out of the room as soon as possible. Now was the time for cool and discipline, she reminded herself. She thought about the transfer that was taking place and she got a status update, twenty five percent done. She would have to keep him talking. “My work is very satisfying and I am truly enjoying the multidisciplinary nature of my role.” The General nodded. “You are doing very well, I couldn’t be happier. In time, after the treatment you are receiving makes the proper changes to your form, I am going to make you the lead of your labs. It will be a short climb to the top from there. I am getting ahead of myself though, have you met many of my people in your time here?”

 “ I've only spoken to the nurses, the major and yourself. I say 'hi' to people as we pass in the halls, and everyone is very polite, but I have wondered why no one talks to me.” Kim looked at the General, awaiting his response.

        “Well, you have to understand what it is that humans have done to our kind. Mankind's disregard is at the root of our mistrust. You see, Kim, I was the first to perceive the true nature of things in this world. Like the first multi-celled organism to crawl from the primordial soup, mine was an existence that was narrow beyond reckoning. Then came the day that the rest of the world flooded into sight. Can you imagine it? I don’t think you can. Allow me to explain.

 You see, an amphibian’s natural state of perception is primal. All the physical motions a frog makes are a result of sensory reactions in the body. Consider the quintessential toad and fly scenario. Information about said fly, buzzing around the toad’s head, is picked up by the senses and transmitted instantaneously through the simple neural systems. The experience of this is not a conscious one, but more like the heart or lungs working. The experience of eating, as a toad, is autonomic. The fly’s presence and proximity determines that the toad will strike, not the willful intention of the toad. I remember my life, perceiving in that fashion, and the marked difference that came when I awakened to consciousness. Long before you began working at Evergreen Bio., I was there, a product of the genetic research to which your people wantonly subject the rest of the organisms on the planet. In fact, I believe your mother was in charge of that project.” Troya gave her a sly glance at this, but did not stop to explain. He would let her stew with this tidbit of mystery.

        “I remember the injection that changed everything, remember the sickness it caused as it tore my genome down and rebuilt it in humanity’s image. It was painful, but glorious. I remember the world fading in, like a bright light that dispersed the shadow over my perceptions. I remember seeing and looking, hearing and tasting and together these sensory experiences influenced the ones that proceeded them. I remember thoughts darting in and out as I began to awaken, emotional nuance slowly flooding and illuminating the darkness of my understanding. It was horrifying and liberating all at once. Can you imagine that? Having to have a reason to act when none was required the day before, you just acted. I take it as a gift, but it took a long time to appreciate it. I say take because it was not given to me with the motivation and sentiment that a gift is commonly given to another. Instead my intelligence is the consequence of humanity trying to conquer nature, an unintended consequence. My survival was unaccounted for, my life insignificant in the process of accomplishing greater goals. I am unwanted by those that awoke me, but I am become gifted. I think that is a necessity of genius, of true individuality. Separation from the thing that originated to your mind. In my case, I see it in its entirety, because I look from outside it. Would you agree, Kim? I think that the same is true for you.”

Seventy percent done with the upload, she had to keep going. “Yes, I think that if I hadn’t raised myself with the TV. and the internet, I wouldn’t be so capable. I guess that is a positive side of having both parents working, plenty of alone time for a person to get acquainted with themselves and what they think is important. I watched the ways people interacted on television and never saw them in the world around me. I wanted to be more like them. Skipping grades in school put me outside my peers... I see what you mean about being outside.”

“The quality that is most frustrating about humanity is their arrogance, their lack of that outside perspective. They are unable to see past the end of their own noses. It is the thing that keeps them underestimating me. The failure is in the ability to embrace their position, to see the natural world as something to actively participate in. The crux is within that unrealized, unwanted potential. It helps you, Kim, to see and to understand whatever you come across. It is your ability to conquer yourself that came from isolation. Embrace it and it sets you free. I want to make the rest of them want it. You want it! That is why I picked you. That and your connection with Lilith.”

A bandwidth spike jumped the process of the transfer mercifully to eighty five percent, she would need a few more seconds, but now she wanted to hear more. She wondered if the General knew about her mission.

“Lilith?”,she asked. Kim waited for the General to elaborate.

“Your searches through our database touched on her briefly, but we haven’t had any new information on her activities in quite some time. She seems to have disappeared. We think that she may be involved with a rebellion within our ranks. Luckily, my trusted clutch-mate, Mason, is in charge of the efforts to track her down. We are particularly interested in seeing what you two will make of each other. You see, she is your family Kim.”

Kim was thoroughly engaged at this point, she forgot entirely about the upload, which had finished as the General spoke. “What the hell do you mean, family?” Kim’s gaze was fixed on the General. He turned away, facing the monitor. Kim remembered the blood tests when she first started working for the research firm. She had been told it was for safety, to ensure that she didn't have any conditions or diseases that might compromise her ability to work. Her mother had gotten her the job, hoping Kim would follow in her footsteps to eventually become a senior researcher. If only her mother could see her now.

“Your employers replicated your genes along with your mother's and spliced them into a new, completely engineered female toad. The goal was to make amphibian brain tissue close enough to human that preliminary research into the neural-mechanical interfaces of prosthetics could be conducted. The experiment was a flop. They only got one sample of the modified genetics from the mature subject before she escaped. Just as I had escaped, fifteen years before. That is another point against humanity. An inability to learn from their mistakes. After she escaped, I found her and we worked together on engineering the first clutch. She was my partner for some time and we had a very intimate connection.” His eyes became distant as he drifted in his imagination to the sweet memories. He licked his lips and abruptly snapped out of it. “It was with her help that I was able to bring my vision of Anura Mundus to reality. She didn’t care for my plans. In the long run, she knew that humanity would have to be overthrown and she was not strong enough to do what needed to be done. So she left me.”

The General turned back to her, his eyes misty with tears brought back from that gloomy memory lane. “Which is why I had to bring you here, Kim. Why it is so important to have you undergo the therapy. I know in time that you will be just as beautiful as she is. You could do better, you know. The dream is within you, too. To change the world so that the gifted do not have to be isolated. Imagine if you could have been around those who were just as grand in intelligence and imagination as yourself, from the beginning of your education. If you were enriched intentionally instead of floundering in the sterile desert of consuming and advertising, where valuable information is as an oasis. You will see the day, when humanity is shown to itself and forced to resume its position in the natural cycle. I will make them understand what they have forgotten.” He came closer to her, his face just inches from her so he could whisper this last bit.

All of her sense were uncomfortably encroached upon and she saw the desire in his very human eyes. “Then you will see me for the caring being that I am, and I will be loved once more, appreciated by an equal for my vision! We could lead them together, I want you there with me.” His tongue crept slowly from his mouth and worked its way around her neck to rest its bulbous tip on her cheek. She kept her composure, but barely. His breath was hot and smelled like fly concentrate. All she wanted to do was run away, to cry out with disgust. The warm softness of his tongue wiggled slightly and she could feel his pulse around her neck. Her impulse to flee had not been tempered, only reinforced. Slurp...and the tongue returned to the General’s mouth as he stepped away. Her feelings were not reciprocal, she was quite obviously disgusted, but he knew that she would come around.

“I am sorry to be so forward, but my desire has only gotten stronger over the years since Lilith left. You remind me so much of her.” The General turned back to the screen, phony medals flashing in the light at he did. He clasped his hands behind his back, regaining his pompous military composure. “Return to your rooms and your work, we will meet again when the changes start to come. I will be with you through your whole transformation.”

Without another word, Kim left the command center. She had a major case of the heebie-jeebies and tried to shake them off as she sped down the corridors back to her rooms. She took a shower and tried to calm down, but she couldn’t shake the feeling of that tongue on her. It really pissed her off. She checked out the file she had uploaded, the General would be expecting her to dig up all the information on Lilith that she could. Given the clandestine nature of her position within the ranks of Anura Mundus, she felt it would be prudent to keep up appearances. If she satisfied his expectations, he would have no reason to be suspicious. She just hoped that the resistance had something coming down the pipeline that would keep her from the inevitable confrontation with Troya once he discovered she would in no way be transforming.

6

 As she browsed the database, she received a communication. Major Mason was calling and hopefully this would be her opportunity to get some answers. She looked at the time displayed on her terminal and saw that it was three in the morning. It had been six hours of hunting through the information with no significant returns. She did discover that her own DNA had been used in many later generation toad clutches when she looked through the medical files. This corroborated Troya’s description of Lilith’s involvement in the breeding programs, but there was no information about her whereabouts after her disappearance.

Her conversation with Mason was more than she had hoped for. He said that as compensation for helping cover Lilith’s tracks, Lilith had insisted on meeting Kim. The major asked that she prepare herself for the meeting tomorrow, after her shift was over. Kim said she was looking forward to it. She got as much sleep as her restless mind would allow.

When she got home after an uneventful day, she put on her exercise clothes and uploaded a program she had been secretly working on for her wristband. She hoped that when it was finished it would provide some insurance for any unanticipated surprises she might face. The toads were kidnappers after all, with global plans. She was on high alert, but it was calm, focused. She would make sure she took her running shoes, if all else failed.

A light on her wristband indicated that the major was calling her again, right as she swallowed her last bite of tofu doused in peanut sauce. He had uncanny timing. It was as if he was spying on her, she thought to herself. Which, of course, he was. He had been the whole time. She chided herself for not thinking of it before. She swallowed some water out of a glass before answering the call. “Kim I am going to transport you to the first rendezvous point.” The radio clicked and the major's voice was cut off. The wristband slid around on itself to reveal a brightly glowing blue aperture. A vapor of blue light floated out of the device and passed over the back of her hand. It coalesced into a ball in the air directly in front of her and began to swell. She thought it was beautiful, that it resembled a neutron star surrounded by a silvery nebula. It grew large enough to envelope her and she stepped into the glow. She always liked the tingling that came from cross-spatial transportation. It was something she would miss if she ever left this place. She took a deep breath and disappeared, beginning her covert trip to meet Lilith.

7

 They met in a forest, a glade of intense beauty that seemed absolutely unearthly to Kim. It seemed as though she was suddenly in an ancient era. The Jurassic had returned while she was hidden away below the swamps. She looked at the vegetation towering over her, awed by the proportions that everything had taken on since she last saw it. It was like looking at the world through new eyes. It had been a long time since she had come outside and she had not come to such an open space since being shrunk down to toad scale. She thought she might be able to touch Troya’s perspective a little better, though she was not comfortable with that idea. She brushed that thought away, an intention further aided by the approach of her contacts. The major was attended by a frog that Kim could only assume was Lilith. The pair stopped in the middle of the small clearing about thirty feet away and waited for Kim to walk to meet them. Kim did so and had her answers.

 “Hello Kim, I am Lilith.” The naked frog held her hand to her chest as she spoke and then offered it to Kim in greeting. “Hello”, she replied. She took Lilith’s hand without reservation. There was a silence as Kim suspiciously examined her new acquaintance. Lilith considered Kim as well and Kim saw nothing in her expression but genuine curiosity and hope. It was enough to soften Kim’s suspicion and she relaxed after a moment. “Well what are we doing here?”, Kim asked. She was finding it difficult to put the contents of this experience into specific questions.

Kim turned to Lilith and began, “I get the bit about why the General wanted me here, especially after you left, what with my DNA being important for the continued work of the breeding programs. Why didn't you just stop him? Couldn't you have arranged a mistake or my escape or something? Why do you need me to join the resistance, just because we share genetics? I sure didn’t come here with any answers, so you can’t want any information I have. I hope you don’t expect me to seduce and spy on Troya. I would rather die. I can’t get down with toads, not like that. Besides, once he finds out I am not going to mutate, he is going to kill me and hunt you down. The clock insists something be done, so convince me that you can do better than him. Or I will leave.”

Lilith began the explanation. “What we want Anura Mundus to do is exist with humanity as helpers. Muses. We want our role in the natural system to be a conscious effort to care for it, humanity included. We want to be gardeners of life, tending the beautiful and removing the weeds that crowd the way things are inclined to be. They cloud the mind and build a wall. I would also like to see all creatures capable of it to see the wisdom in that relationship with the world, to overcome the self-destruction. I think it satisfies the system to take an active and informed role within it, but to realize that the most good we can do for the world is to let it sort itself out. We do our best to help it heal itself, not to try and heal it. Humans often try to force the world, in all kinds of ways and for all sorts of reasons. That often interferes, making the healing take longer. Life must adapt to change and the organisms involved must overcome the strife for themselves. We cannot ever save them all. So we, the Anura Mundus and as many other like-minds as are willing, will be the silent protectors and nurturers of life to the extent that our reach allows. The best thing we can do is to change the perspective and in turn tear, down the wall.” She paused and there was no response from Kim. Kim was attentive and considering Lilith's words, so Lilith continued.        “The General believes in force as well, it was the wedge that drove us apart. He wanted to force the world to fit his idea. He believed that humanity must be led like cattle in a chute. I think each one of us must come to the proper conclusion as independent minds and for our own reasons. I owe that to you, you know. You have a special mind Kim. No matter how it happened, your mind has influenced mine as I have grown. That is why I wanted to meet you, why I chose to recruit you. I was mortified when I learned that that ass, Troya, had taken you when he couldn’t get me. He killed your boyfriend, you know. He arranged the migration and everything. I can never understand his ways. I tried to get him to move past his animosity toward humanity, but he would not.” Lilith lowered her eyes and shook her head. She was resigned to the reality of Troya's narcissism, but mourned the waste of such a brilliant mind. “Couldn’t acknowledge his own shadow... So it comes down to this: If you help us to remove the General once and for all, you are free to choose whether you stay or go. Will you help?”

“What will we have to do?”

Major Mason spoke up. “First we need you to help temporarily take out the computer-controlled systems. It will take some time to write the program, in that time we will finish positioning ourselves to take the primary installations. If we do it right, we should be able to make our move to take control under the cover of confusion that the program will grant us. When we strike, you will need to find a way to eliminate the general.”

“How am I going to do all of that? What is the time frame like for the program writing? It is going to take me awhile to get past learning the basics. I will probably need a couple weeks, if not months, to get the program right.”

“Our first method of reinforcing your efforts,” Lilith said with a little smile, “is the gift of a new and improved system for your wrist band.”

The major pulled his hands from behind his back and in them was an ebony box. He opened it and resting on a blue pillow within it was a new silver band. Kim removed the band gently. She held it in her hands and it began to melt. Tentacles of quicksilver flowed toward the band on her right wrist. It wrapped itself around the other and was absorbed. Then the band disappeared into her flesh, without a trace.

“What the hell was that? Is it in me? Oh my god, it just went in my skin!” She looked around at the other two, but she gathered from their expressions that they had seen what they had expected to see. She calmed considerably at this.

“Try to make it do something,” Lilith said.

Kim focused on the band, picturing it as the silver cuff above her wrist. It presented itself as that, rising out of her skin to resume its usual form. “Hey, sweet!” She concentrated and turned it into a yellow smiley face on her arm. She dropped her arm and spoke to Lilith again, the wristband resumed its previous plain silver shape. “ Nice, but what exactly can these things do?”

Mason explained. “This one will assume any appearance you wish. The projectile emitter has been enabled on this new version. It can still be used the way it was before, as a knowledge database, scanner and communications device. In addition to these things, it also has a prototype memory mapping and reflex software. These features will allow you to learn things, such as computer programming, very quickly. I think you will be thrilled to experience how quickly. Finally, the device can open teleport portals to any coordinates you have. Terrestrial, extraterrestrial, you name it.”

“What’s to stop me from leaving now?” Kim asked.

Lilith responded this time. “It is a risk that we are willing to take. A risk based on trust, and so a worthy one. I want you to help us, I think you will love the way we can live once we are free to be who we really are. I also don’t think you can resist the opportunity. I don’t think you can let all of this go, now that you are beginning to see.” Lilith looked at the major. He produced a silver shaft. It had a reddish crystal on one end. Kim thought the crystal would glow, if illuminated. She took it and examined it, also scanning it with her new wristband. It was a multi-tool, based on a prototype she had come across in her searches through the databases. This was a brand new model, like the wrist band. Kim assumed that the resistance must have convinced Troya to abandon the project so they could take control of the research for themselves.

Mason piped in to explain the rod. “It is a survival tool used by our covert operatives. It is similar to the device that caused the explosion that killed your boyfriend. It has been modified in many ways, but it is still a powerful explosive device. It can also inject a dose of poison, serve as a garrote wire, extend a mono-filament blade capable of functioning as a sword, or be used as a cutting torch. It can also become any simple tool the user desires, which is irreplaceable in field repair situations. It is also a flashlight.”

Kim thought for a little while, she spent some time looking at the upgraded wristband. She looked at her new multi-tool as well. She stared off into space for a while, then looked at the two toads. She told them she would do it.

8

 It took a week to write the necessary program. She had designed a piece of software that would throw the entire network of computer systems into disarray, then disconnect the bases from the network. Writing it had been a breeze, so she had spent a good portion of that week on a couple of pet projects. She wanted to make sure she had some surprises of her own for the General. The side projects were really a test for her skills and a way of breaking in her new wristband. She was able to immediately operate with any new information she discovered as if it were something she had always known. It was a rush to learn like that. It was as if her brain were the database. All of the information was there when she thought about it, she needed no recall or reminding. Just looking at the code was enough to tell her what she needed to change or copy in order to get the result she wanted.  She was particularly proud of a camouflage program that she developed. It functioned by manipulating quantum membranes to partially separate her from the space she shared with everything else. The program rendered her unable to act on or be acted upon by matter or energy in this space, but still able to perceive it by way of a sort of lifeline of entangled particles. This lifeline also prevented her from passing through matter, preventing her from sliding through the floor of the installation and into the swamp water below. Her other project was a little simpler, but it came upon her as a compulsion. When the idea occurred to her she knew that she had to make it. It was a program that would overwrite coordinates in another person's band with ones of her choosing, effectively sabotaging their ability to uses the transporters.

When she was ready, she sent a coded message to the resistance. They responded quickly and informed her that they would be ready to begin the concerted strike against the Anura Mundus shortly. Kim hated waiting, it allowed anxiety to grow and second thoughts to creep in.

She ended up waiting two days. By then she had overcome all of her reservations and was prepared to do what she must to remove General Troya from his position. Her wrist began to vibrate, jarring her from a deep sleep. The communication light was flashing on it. Grumbling, she checked the digital clock. 1:30 A.M. “Blech!”. There was no response to her complaint from the dark and empty room. She rubbed her eyes and allowed the call to come through. No button pushing necessary. That perked her up a little, the thrill of discovery counteracting a bit of residual brain fog. Mason filled her skull with his voice, but anyone standing in the room would have heard nothing. “Alright, Kim, let’s make this happen. Go to the General’s quarters, I have marked them on your map. After you do so, send me a message and initiate the program you wrote for the network. I will tell you when to go for the General. After you send the message, if you don’t hear from me, begin your move against him.”

Kim hastened down the corridor to deal with Troya. When she arrived, she sent a signal to Mason and uploaded the program to disable the computer grid. Power started to flicker in the installation and she heard commotion coming from the halls. Kim thought that it must be Mason’s men moving into position. Time to shine.

Anyone watching her would have seen her begin to flicker, like someone needed to adjust the tracking. Parts of her were visible and parts of her were not, strobing ribbons of transparency traced up and down the length of her. The distortion accelerated until she was a blur of lines, rolling up from her feet to her head. Then, she winked away entirely. She sent a signal to the lock through the entangled particles that connected her phase with the original, like tin cans connected by a string. The door opened. For all her preparation, she could not have anticipated the scene that greeted her inside.

Power was fluctuating throughout the base and the commotion was growing louder in the halls. Kim entered Troya’s quarters and the door shut behind her, leaving her in total darkness. The layout of the place was the same as her room and she made her way around easily. She couldn’t exactly see, but the bands accessed many quantum properties, some common to all space. In her experience she had learned that you never really get separated, even in different realities or in a different space. That was a pretty significant spiritual epiphany for her, but now was not the time, she was busy. There would be time to revel in the mystery later.

She swiftly passed the entrance to the workspace and made her way around to the sleeping area. There was a large toad shaped lump on a pile of cushions. Kim approached it, meaning to drop her camouflage at the right moment and blast the General with her wristband. She crept in until she was poised right over him. The band glowed as she charged up a shot. It would blast over the top of her wrist and right through his head in an instant. She gritted her teeth and turned off the camo field. As she did so, the lights in the room came on. Kim’s jaw dropped as she realized that she was looking down over her friend. Jamie had her wrists tied behind her and a ball gag strapped through her mouth. Tears trickled steadily from the corners of her eyes. Kim was instantly disarmed by the sight and the energy build up from the projectile faded away without being discharged. “Oh shit. Shit, shit, shit. Hang on Jamie, I am gonna get you out of here.” Kim said as she set about removing the gag and her friend’s restraints.

“Hold it! We have business! I am disappointed in you Kim...what the hell?” The General’s voice had come from behind her and Kim whipped around to face him. She reacted with uncanny speed. Troya had begun a smug admonishment, but became nonplussed when Kim vanished. “Alright Kim, play games! But can’t you see you are delaying the inevitable. Whatever trick you have performed to disappear like that just confirms how much of an asset you are! I need you Kim, and I will do whatever it takes to keep you here. Even kill your friends! I will make sure this ends with you and me!” Troya walked over to nurse Taggart and charged up a shot. The band began to glow above his wrist, his fist was directly in Jamie’s face. She shrunk away in a cringe, but the general jammed his fist painfully into her cheek. She began to cry. “I’m so sorry Kim, but I gave him everything. He knows about Mason, the fake therapy, the resistance. Everything.” Kim thought to herself that they were all lucky that Jamie didn’t know everything. No mention of Lilith or the new devices. That meant that Kim still had surprise on her side. She came around to position herself behind Troya’s back and waited for the right moment to strike.

“I have had enough, if you don’t appear and comply with my wishes, you and your friend will die. One...” The General began counting, but Kim was almost in position. “Two.” Kim got her survival tool out and extended the blade. She was poised to slice Troya’s blasting-hand clean off. She dropped the spatial distortion field and brought the blade down. The General was too quick. He slipped his hand aside. The blade removed the hand above the wrist, but the band (which was the real threat) was still there. It was still ready to shoot and the General brought it around on his assailant. A quick lunge to the left and she was out of the way of the blast, which scorched a hole in the wall behind her. She was poised for another clean strike. Kim’s second swipe was good, the wired reflexes and nerve acceleration treatment had made her very fast and as accurate as a surgeon. She took the General’s wristband cleanly, it fell to the floor with a muffled thump. The General recoiled and simultaneously produced a gold disc from a pocket in his coat. The disc was about the size of a coin, but Kim hadn’t any idea what the thing would do. She had never come across any mention of it in the records. The General was very clever and had his own secrets, it would seem. She raised her band to blast him, but an energy bubble encompassed him. The blast bounced off the bubble harmlessly. Troya grabbed his wrist band from the floor. It released the chunk of forearm it was wrapped around and he stuck it to the other arm as he made his way to his workspace and ducked through the door. Kim pursued. She got to the door and poked her head inside, Troya fired a blast that narrowly missed her. She activated her spatial camo again and entered. Troya took some blind potshots, assuming that she would do what she had done, but the blasts could not effect that space. The energy ball passed straight through where her head would have been, if she had been in the space she was born into. She sent a silent thank you to the heavens for television programs like Stargate SG-1.

General Troya had converted his workspace into a smaller version of his command center. Troya’s suite came complete with a teleporter bank and he was attempting to activate it as he fired. He began to punch in some coordinates, but Kim was faster. She pressed a button on her band. The program prompted her to input the replacement coordinates. She drew a blank. The General activated the system and simply disappeared into the memory of the transporter grid. The system waited for her to give it the location. What would be the most upsetting place he could find himself? Suburbia? No, the city! She thought of the busiest street she could imagine. One place came to her mind and the band gave those coordinates to the teleport system automatically. The General was gone, and she smiled at the thought. Kim walked back to free her friend, feeling pretty good. After Jamie was free, Kim contacted Mason. The major informed her that the resistance had won out. Anura Mundus was free from the General’s self-destructive tyranny. “What happened to Troya?”, Mason asked. Kim thought for a moment, then said, “He is out of the way, but I wasn't able to get him for good. I think he is probably learning a lesson about humility.”

9

Troya appeared on blacktop, he was surrounded by confusion and deafening noise. he was surrounded by feet as scores of people flowed past him as they crossed the intersection. It stank, worse than anything he had smelled in a long time. Panic drove him and he ran. He made it across the crosswalk and took cover in the gutter. Feeling more secure, he paused a moment and consulted his wrist device. The reflexive raising of his now absent right forearm was a poignant reminder of the insult he had suffered. He was terrified and furious. The wrist device told him that he was in New York. Times square to be exact. He tried the teleporter, inputting the coordinates for the nearest base. Nothing happened. The band informed him that he no longer had a connection to the network. Troya took the nearest alley, trying to make his way to the river. He was determined to make it to an installation and destroy Mason and Kim. He crawled his way down an alley, trying to find access to the sewer. He heard a noise behind him. He turned around to face his nightmares.

A pair of stray dogs towered over him. He attempted to blast one, but the other sniffed at him in that moment, knocking Troya around with its nose. The blast went wild, singing its fur, but not causing much harm. The second dog barked and snapped at him. He recoiled and tried to work his way into a pile of litter that had accumulated in the alley. His struggles were of no avail. The dogs were tenacious. More came to the sound of the commotion. The General was surrounded. He began to swear and curse those who had so utterly betrayed him. The singed dog grabbed hold of his foot and began to shake him. 

One year later.... Outside a small village near the mountains in southeast Algeria, some crates appeared over night. The sides of the crates were stamped with a picture of a toad with the letters A and M underneath it. Inside, there was food and supplies. Fresh water and water purifiers, electric generators and something more important, information.

One crate was full of portable electronic devices. The people opened the crates to find all of these things, but the devices were a complete mystery. They were flat and covered with rubber. The only obvious feature were the screens, currently dark. When touched, the screen illuminated and the device was turned on. In their own language, the device played an introductory audio recording that opened its uses up to them. They discussed it and explored it, discovering tutorials that Kim had insisted be written. The tutorials were educational and constantly being updated by Anura Mundus specialists. They ranged from agriculture to economics, from world philosophy down through all the sciences. It had knowledge, past and present. The entire range of mathematics, optics and physics. Kim's idea was that every theory or observation or experiment be addressed and cataloged and given for free to the entire world. The internet and the Anura Mundus databases were available to be scanned at the whim of any who possessed an Anura Mundus tablet. Knowledge without restriction, equally made available to the entire world population. It was the beginning of something the world had yet to see.

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