The Good Doctor's Tales Folio Nine (15 page)

They had thought they had killed all the Hunters in the Detroit battle, but they now knew several had survived.  These reborn Hunters didn’t attack people like they used to, though, and none of Crow Zero’s friends were sure
what to do with them.

Okay.  I’ll take the chance
, she wrote. 
You said there was something else, though.

“Uh huh,” Dowling said.  “
Sharon, we’re going to have the occasional help in this project from a top researcher in Major Transforms, someone we call the Good Doctor.  He’s helped out the Nobles for years, but he won’t smell like family.  The first thing we’re going to have to teach you is not to go berserk when he shows up to examine you.”

“
Okay.  I wouldn’t want to harm any of your friends.
”  She paused and thought.  “
Do you think he
can tell me what’s going on with me?  I swear I’m still changing my shape.

Dowling turned to Crow Zero, who sat with h
is back to the metal wall.  “I can answer that,” the Crow said, quiet.  “The Monster transformation never stops.  Monsters are always evolving.”

“A Noble Chimera can take down your juice and stop the change,” Dowling said, “but if we do so, there’s no telling how long it
’ll take for you to grow your Monster metacampus.  I know it’s painful to have so much juice, but letting you keep all your juice is part of our experiment.”

I understand
, she wrote. 
Only what Crow Zero said isn’t correct.  Evolution doesn’t happen to individuals within their lifetimes.

Dowling laughed and pointed a meaty finger at the Crow.  Zero blushed.  “Zero’s well known to have issues with proper terminology.”

Sharon continued to write.  She wanted to make this as clear as possible; she refused to have people thinking of her as a dumb Monster. 
I am not evolving.  We Transforms
are
evolution.  We are the future.

Author’s Afterword

Thanks to Randy and Margaret Scheers, Michelle and Karl Stembol, Gary and Judy Williams, Maurice Gehin, Alex Farmer, and as always my wife, Marjorie Farmer.  Without their help this novel would have never been made.

Cover credit for the background building to Adalbertus Fortunatus.

After I collected many helpful but non-monetary responses from various other publishing venues regarding
my novels, I decided the best way to introduce the Commander series to a wider audience was via the ebook market.  I have two traditionally published short stories, one in Analog and the other in Marion Zimmer Bradley’s Fantasy Magazine.

I hope you enjoyed reading this
series.

If you enjoyed this, you can find out further information about the Commander series, the background mythos of the Commander series, and about other fiction, on http://majortransform.com.  Interesting and helpful comments are encouraged.  Tell your friends.  Post reviews.

My next work, the first book of the “99 Gods” trilogy (not in the Commander universe), I’m tentatively scheduling for epublishing later in 2013.  The next series in the Commander universe, “The Cause”, will be released after the 99 Gods trilogy is epublished.

Randall Allen Farmer