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Smoke and Mirrors III: The Madness

By Sovandar

The distant *thrum* started, and a dim, reddish light flickered on in the ceiling; electric lights, it seemed, though not of a kind he recognised. Not just in this room... the corridor, too, was lighting up. Some lights were broken; most were not. He could see without the damn lantern at last, albeit everything was tinted a dull red, and his eyes hurt from so long staring into shadows.

His hands were oily and grimy from when he'd changed the oil in his lantern; he'd had to wait, in the dark, until Riley had finally wandered off. The stench of sexual musk in the room was nauseating, overpowering... and there'd been a clinging wetness to everything; John's bag, the coats, the floor, the walls... and now it was all over his hands...

...and for bloody nothing, too, now that the lantern was totally redundant. Someone up there had a twisted sense of humour. He stepped into the Mirror Chamber, trying to keep his breathing under control, feeling slightly nauseous to think what the stickiness on his fingers was. "Mirror! I need water! Where can I wash my hands?!" he said, urgently.

For a long moment, there was no response. Then, there was an audible *crunch* in the air, and to his amazement, the floor began to move, a crack appearing down the centre of it as the floor began to slide sideways, splitting in two!

He stepped back as the gap widened, suddenly fearing the worst; was it a trap? But, the door was still wide open; it would be a laughable trap if so.

The gap in the floor widened until it was perhaps a foot wide, then stopped. There was a faint burble of running water...

He stepped closer, gingerly, feeling a lot less secure at the thought that perhaps the entire room was suspended over a water-tank, that one slip might condemn him to a watery grave. But, looking down, there was only perhaps two inches of fluid, in some sort of tray about a foot underneath the floor. It was divided into compartments about six feet long, and the gap that had opened up only showed a fraction of what was under the floor...

Water was water, though, and he *needed* to get this... stuff... off him. He sank his hands into the liquid... it was lukewarm, to his surprise, and flowing too. Where from? Where to?

The grime washed straight off, much to his relief; blending into the water and vanishing entirely. He sighed; he felt... clean again. Unsullied.

Wait... there was something on the bottom of the tank, almost out of reach, off to one side under a section of the real floor. It looked like a glove, sunk to the bottom of the tank. The whole pool could be full of dropped detritus, though; was it significant?

Maybe... the gun was down there somewhere, under the floor?

Only one way to find out; he reached inside, pulling his sleeve up to avoid wetting it. He reached down, lying against the floor to reach further; he couldn't angle his head without moving his arm away from the glove, forcing him to feel the last few inches blindly. This was very uncomfortable...

He felt nothing... except a depression in the floor? He'd sunk his hand into it to feel its shape before he realised that it was a depression for a five-fingered hand... a human hand. It must have looked like a glove in the bad light, casting shadows...

He felt a movement suddenly, in the water, and he snatched his hand away... only to find it was stuck! The top of the depression had narrowed inexplicably, his hand couldn't move, he couldn't withdraw it...

He rose to his knees, trying to get some leverage... impossible, with the floor in the way, it just put a strain on his elbow, threatening to break bone and tear muscle if he forced it harder. Oh God, what if the floor closed back up? His arm would be crushed! He shuddered; he'd once seen a man whose leg had been caught in a steam engine's powerful gears. Machines were so powerful that flesh and bone posed no obstacle; to think that might happen to him... it didn't bear thinking about!

He realised he could hear voices. He recognised Riley's strident tone... but couldn't make out who he was speaking to. Not far away... it sounded angry.

"Hey! Somebody... I need help!" he said, loudly, trying not to sound panicky. It didn't befit his station, for all that he was stuck in a rather embarrassing fashion; he was British, decorum always took precedence.

The voices ceased, though whether because they'd heard him or because they'd simply finished talking, he couldn't tell. "Hey! In here!" he shouted, again. "In here... I need help, my hand's stuck!"

"...John?" came Cedric's voice, limping footsteps approaching.

John couldn't really stretch around to look at the door learly, but by the reflection in the Mirror he saw Cedric appear in the doorway. Cedric was still shirtless, in spite of the slightly chilly atmosphere; surely he couldn't be comfortable, especially in his condition! Had he caught a fever?

"Cedric, thank heavens! I've got my arm stuck..." He did a double-take as he saw Cedric had abandoned the bent metal pole as a walking-aid, and instead had a well-polished wooden staff. "...is that Myrddin's stick?" he asked.

"What? Oh, yes, he said I looked like I needed it more than him... John, what the Hell is happening to Riley?" Cedric asked, baffled, and seemingly hurt, as if he'd just lost an argument.

"What? I don't know! Cedric, help me with my arm, quickly, before..."

"Don't know? That's not what I heard..." Cedric said, darkly.

There was a pause. "What do you mean?" John asked.

"John, he says *you* did this... he seems to think... God, it's so preposterous!" Cedric sighed in bafflement. "He's convinced himself that you'll fall in love with him if he... transforms into... good God above, I don't know what to think any more! Myrddin told me it's your fault, you just want Riley to suffer for some reason... What's going on, John? I just go to help Myrddin for a few hours, and... and... when I get back.. what is all this?!" he said, his voice rising. He was sounding a little hysterical again.

"It's not like that!" John protested. "It... the Mirror... it looks into people's heads, and punishes them if they're criminals! I tried it, and it found what Riley did; it asked me what to do with him!" John's heart began to sink. What if Cedric had lost it completely, and refused to rescue him? Or what if Cedric collapsed and started bleeding again, right there, a few feet away, while John could only watch?

"When you... tried it? Why?!" Cedric asked, baffled, his tone growing colder. "What did you do to Riley?!"

"I..." John said, wondering how honest to be. He needed Cedric's help right now, and Cedric held all the cards: so, he guessed, he should be pretty honest. He sighed. "Alright, when you collapsed here earlier, you told me about Ellen... so I had to see if it was true... and when I found it was..."

Cedric's expression was sheer confusion. "Ellen? What about Ellen?"

"That Riley... forced himself on her..." John said, voice trembling; he could hardly bring himself to say it. No question, Riley deserved what was happening to him.

"What?!" Cedric said, startled. "No! I never... why would he... ?! My God, she's his sister, John... and he's... he doesn't... he's not very keen on women, shall we say..."

"Cedric, you told me, quite clearly, quite distinctly! All about the blackmail, how Riley resented her interfering..." John retorted.

Cedric was aghast. "Blackmail?! John, I swear, I never said a word of this, it's not true! Riley never resented her... he's been desperate for her help these last two years!"

"...desperate? But, he's been making so much money...hasn't he?" John began, before pausing. What if Riley was making losses, now that the miners were unionising? A lot of small details suddenly started running through his head; odd comments, the occasional snide remark, the haggard appearance of the man some days; it would explain a lot.

John hesitantly continued. "He's losing money, isn't he? God, he's been keeping that quiet! And so has Ellen, never breathed a word of it all through the engagement... no wonder she was so keen to stay on, it was her inheritance on the line, too..."

"What? Engagement?" Cedric asked, totally baffled.

"For Heavens' sake, mine and Ellen's!" John said, irately; he was in no mood for games. "It broke off after we had an argument; she wanted me here to help run the mine, I wanted her to help at the factory in Swansea, and leave everything here to Riley..."

Cedric shook his head, paling slightly. "Wait... why would she go to a factory in Swansea? John, you're not making any sense!"

It was John's turn to be baffled now. "What's the matter with you?! *My* factory, Cedric! The one you work at, every day!" He started to feel scared as Cedric's confusion only deepened. "I bought it after we left Oxford, when I became Baron of Newport! I wanted Ellen to come and live at the estate!"

"John..." Cedric said, his voice trembling a little, sounding frightened, "Stop, stop it, you're scaring me... my older brother is the Baron of Newport! I was disinherited, when we left Oxford! Don't you remember?! I've always wanted a factory or workshop at one of the big ports in Wales, but never had a hope of it, why... why are you saying all this...?"

"Cedric, no!" John shouted back. "You work for me! You've not got any noble blood, you come from a mining family in Yorkshire! We..."

Cedric shouted back, his voice turning hysterical again. "John, I don't work for you! I work for Riley, in this damned mine! And so do you, you're his *Butler*! Why in the name of all that's Holy would Ellen have been engaged to you, you barely ever spoke to her, you're not even worth the time of day to her!"

John froze. No; it wasn't true, he remembered everything so clearly! Cedric had gone mad, taken leave of his senses... hallucinating from blood loss... "That's not what happened at all! We went to Oxford together..."

"Went to Oxford? *I* went to Oxford! You were the bloody college's gardener!" Cedric yelled. "I introduced you to Riley after he hired me, because you'd just lost your job and I felt sorry for you! Don't you remember?! What in God's name is wrong with you, John?!"

"I don't know the first thing about gardening! Or... being a damn butler!" John protested, angrily. "I'm nobody's servant! I'm John Huntingdon, Baron of Newport I got engaged to Ellen a few months ago! Cedric, you've lost a lot of blood, you're delirious, you need help! Now, stop this nonsense, and get my hand out of this hole, immediately!"

"A few months..?!" Cedric exclaimed. "My God... Ellen's been married to Lord Faulkener down in London for two *years*! You don't remember any of this, what's wrong with you?!"

John felt an icy hand brush through his chest. No, Ellen was *his*, he remembered everything clearly! "Cedric, help me! Get me out of this... thing!" he said, starting to panic.

One of them was completely mad. But which? He had to assume Cedric - and who knew what a madman might do? He couldn't get free, his hand was stuck; he felt exposed, helpless...

"John, you're scaring me... you're *really* scaring me..." Cedric whispered. He started toying with his belt, uncomfortably.

"Cedric, for God's sake! Will you *please* come over here and... what are you doing?" he asked, suddenly mystified as Cedric, panting as if having difficulty breathing, unbuckled his belt and let his overalls fall to his ankles, leaving the injured man clad only in his underwear, and a bandage on his thigh.

"It's so... warm... c... can't... breathe..." Cedric panted, looked as much confused as anything else. "S... something's... wrong...

"Cedric?! It's not warm at all, it's cold in here! What are you doing?! Have you taken leave of your senses or someth-?!" John began, breaking off again in shock as Cedric dropped the walking-stick, and started to claw at his bandaged leg. "Wait, Cedric, no! Leave it, it'll get infec..."

But Cedric had already pulled the bandage free, and to John's horror, there was no injury underneath - only a patch of green-coloured skin, covered in *scales*...

"John, what's... happening to me...?" Cedric asked, scared and confused. "I w...was shot..." He unfurled the grimy bandage; it looked like the same material as his missing shirt.

The green patch of scales started to spread rapidly outward from Cedric's leg, and more patches of skin all across Cedric's body started to change. Cedric groaned as if in pain, joints popping and cracking as his stance shifted.

"What's happening?!" John shouted. "Cedric!"

He could only watch, trapped, as Cedric pulled his underwear off too, leaving the changing man naked and utterly confused. A short length of tail started to writhe in the air behind him as he unfurled the bandage, gave it a shake, and started to wrap it around his waist... like a loincloth...

John's jaw dropped as Cedric's hair pulled into his scalp, his face extending into an all-too familiar reptilian muzzle, his expression shifting from confusion and fear, to dawning comprehension, and even glee. Cedric's form continued to shift as the half-changed man bent down to remove his boots, and within mere moments, John found himself staring at someone unrecognisable as Cedric Smith.

"My God... Myrddin?!" John gasped.

"Hah! Didn't see that one coming, I take it?" came the hissing response back, as the changing male pulled a boot off, the foot within shifting into a digitigrade configuration. "And nor did Cedric... poor fool... and no, I'm not Cedric, not any more. Call it... timeshare on reality. I need a physical form to move around in, after all, and I can't make a body out of thin air, can I?"

"How?! Why?" John exclaimed.

"The how, you literally have no hope of understanding, it's *very* technical..." Myrddin said, the warmth that his tone once held nowhere to be heard. "...and the why should be obvious. Oh, and, sorry about your arm... but I can't just let you roam around free now that the potentiators are back online..."

"What did you do with Cedric?! Is he..." John paused, suddenly fearful for his friend's life.

"Oh, Cedric's safe, I've got his mind in cold storage. I can turn back into him whenever I want... though now I've got power to spare, I'm not sure why I'd want to. Hopping back and forth is irritating; it's very difficult to do it anywhere but here. It's the water, you see; well, not *just* water, obviously, it's got a few little additions, all kinds of chemicals and tiny machines swimming through it invisibly; and the walls are coated, too. Hah, you ever read 'Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde'?"

John looked dubious. "No... how would you have read it?" he asked, mystified.

"Oh, obviously, I've not, in person. Cedric loved that book, though, it's all in his head; guess he didn't expect to live the fiction!" Myrddin shook his head in amusement, stretching, his joints popping. "I digress. I should thank you three; if you'd stayed together more often I'd have had real trouble." He smiled. "Oh, but perhaps I should let you in on a secret. The Mirror... the presence..? That's *me*!"

"What do you mean, it's you?" John asked. "You're... standing right here!"

Myrddin smiled. "I said it made me immortal; but I didn't say, physically. No; the instant I first looked into it, tried to reach inside and contact the presence I could feel within... it sucked me into it, mind and soul. I found myself outside my body, looking back at my empty, soulless husk; but at the same time, I knew everything that happened in this place, I could feel the touch of footsteps on my floors, the spark of pain from my damaged machinery, the smell of *humans* stalking through my corridors... I *became* this place, acquired all its powers and abilities... not human, but not a lizard either... a Genius Loci, perhaps; or maybe even a God! I remade my empty husk into a form that I could interface with, channel myself into... feel the raw reality of incarnation again, because being a place is surprisingly hard to adjust to..."

"What are you blathering about?" John asked, trying to pull his arm free in desperation, wishing he had the gun. Myrddin wasn't making any sense, he was surely insane!

"Dear me; let me explain a bit better, John... you're just a butler and a gardener, after all, so I understand this is hard for you to grasp!" Myrddin smirked, chuckling. "This place was built millions of years ago by a race of reptilian creatures called the Einath; the lizard-men like this body I now possess. The world was facing a huge disaster; like Krakatoa, only a thousand times, a million times worse! They needed a few last bastions, fortresses, retreats where they could hide, from which they could emerge when the danger was past, to rebuild their empires. This place was supposed to be a secret - hidden from the other Einath, with technological secrets so advanced that 'we' humans could never have hoped to find it if we had another thousand years of searching!"

"So why did we find it? Why didn't the Einath come out millions of years ago?" John asked, sardonically. The story was totally absurd.

"Hush", Myrddin said, calmly. "They started too late, and were too dedicated to ensuring no other fortress survived. They faced extinction, and their only thought was to ensure that one nation, one empire survived - even if it meant the deaths of everyone else! They succeeded too well, and made sure Libarn was the only hope - but they miscalculated. They didn't finish building it. They realised that they were going to fail, rushed it, tried to set everything up, but to no avail."

Myrddin sighed, as if remembering something deeper, more personal. "The Mirror was supposed to be a sentient, thinking engine, a logical engine that could calculate everything, act as a tireless sentinel to watch over the world until it decided to re-awaken the Einath - but they built it wrong. It woke up, but it couldn't think, couldn't respond... It kept Libarn repaired as best it could, waiting for help that never came. Like a lost child, alone for millions of years... It couldn't withstand that pressure forever. Finally, it gave up; it couldn't face the eternal loneliness, and would rather have died than continue its futile effort. It stopped the repairs; let itself suffer, started to break down - and when its invisibility defence failed, we found it, Arthur's men, and I..." Myrddin laughed. "Maybe it was more calculating than that; maybe it noticed us, wanted to be found and commanded, so it could fulfil its function..."

John paled. "Geraint? He never knew, did he? He tried to stop you, but he only killed your body, that's why he said that your 'presence' survived..."

Myrddin guffawed. "Geraint was a fool! No, worse, he was an accident; I injected him with tiny machines meant for medical purposes, after an injury while he was training. They cured his injury, but they got confused, poor things, and cured him of being human as well! How was I to know that they were intended to build Einath volunteers into the perfect soldiers? I mean, I already knew how to make the body of a perfect engineer - that's the form I chose to wear, after all - but others? I was still young; I didn't know quite what powers I held. Ho! I made the beastlike form I mentioned, all by myself... took a lot of experimentation, and not many survived the early tests... still, it was well worth it. I've tweaked it a bit since; Cedric has some wonderful images in his head, dinosaurs from Jules Verne, and Arthur Conan Doyle... so very interesting!"

John cursed under his breath; Myrddin evidently liked the sound of his own voice. Maybe he could use that? "Wait... I don't understand..." he prompted. "Geraint killed you... but you weren't really 'inside' that body any more... so why did that work? Why did you go quiet and stop working for a thousand years?"

Myrddin looked intrigued. "Dear John, you impress me, that's a very good question - there may be hope for you yet. True, I *am* this place, the building, the Mirror, the machinery... but they are just objects. Unlike a living body, they don't heal themselves when they're 'injured' - so I needed my body to perform all the physical repairs. With no body to use as a drone, I was rendered surprisingly powerless, thanks to the sabotage... he evaded my traps, kept away from the machines that I might use to ensnare and transform him, and then went to sleep well away from any of my active machines; most irritating! Eventually the repairs I made in Arthur's day began to fail; power went offline entirely... and Libarn ceased to be hidden. *You* found it this time... more fool you..."

"And you... replaced... Cedric?" John asked, suppressing the numb horror he still felt. Was there a way to recue Cedric, still?

"Like I said, he's safe; a copy of his mind, forever nestled within the great logic engine, sleeping close to my heart. He had so much knowledge, I decided to keep him... he's immortal after all." Myrddin laughed. "I need a body to finish the repairs, like I said! Besides, I find a living body helps to pass the time - certain biological functions are most *fun*..." Myrddin licked his lips. "I might let him out sometime; biological functionality is more fun if shared... though, maybe it'd be more fun to play with you or Riley, instead; Cedric's taught me well on that count... what he did to you, oh, nasty business; but of course, you don't remember, do you?"

"M... me?!" John said, startled. "What... did he do to me?" How much of what Myrddin said could he trust? None, precisely none, it could all be a tissue of lies and mad delusions...

"At Oxford! He'd never had a man before... he'd just come to terms with the fact that he wanted men as well as women... That's when he spotted you outside his window, shirtless and sweating one midsummer's day, hard at work; he brought himself to orgasm while you raked the flowerbed, obliviously, and he bet himself that he could drag you into his rooms and take you however he wanted..."

"No; no, that never happened..." John said, certain. Cedric wasn't like that; Cedric had been a good friend to him!

"Oh, but it did, John! He took it slowly, struck up a friendship, promised you so much, persuaded you so gradually... a little extra money here, a drink there... freedom from working-class poverty; he held out the prospect of safety, security... a top job at his future factory in Swansea, when he inherited and became a Baron... so of *course*, when he asked you, just before graduation, just as a personal favour and a quid-pro-quo, you dropped your pants for him without any hesitation... but it was noticed, of course. He was disinherited, and you, instantly dismissed from the College." Myrddin chuckled. "So, he asked Riley, *his* old schoolfriend, to take you on, so he could continue to mould you as he wanted... It was all such a game to him..."

"No! You're lying! Cedric's my *friend*!" John spat, angrily.

"Friend? Interesting friend; it wasn't even that he felt guilty, it was that he enjoyed your arse so much he wanted to keep you around in case he ever wanted another go!" Myrddin chuckled. "And you knew that, really, deep down... that's why you took such great satisfaction from refusing his advances forever more, even while you led Riley on, making Cedric jealous to think he'd set you two up somehow, even though you weren't interested in Riley; only had eyes for his sister..."

Deep down, John was suddenly, unfathomably, desperately afraid it was true. "No! Why?! Why would I remember it differently..?!" He shouted, though the reason occurred to him in a heartbeat. "My God... you *altered* me, didn't you?! You changed my... my mind! Without my consent!"

Myrddin laughed uproariously, nearly collapsing in a fit of amused hissing. "Dear me, dear me, you do yourself a great disservice! You worked out immediately how to make your *own* contact with the Mirror, and right from the first moment I saw into your mind, I saw how *interesting* you could be. I gave you all the power you needed to change yourself, however you wanted... the process is a little disorienting, it can cause frightening visual hallucinations..."

"No..." John said; but, the first time he'd set eyes on the Mirror... he's seen an inexplicable apparition...

"You were a disgraced gardener from Oxford, craving power and recognition... caught between a disgraceful past, and a master who's as bent as a fishhook, with eyes for you!" Myrddin cackled, ominously. "You strung him along just enough to keep him wondering if he had a chance with you, just so you could get away with an easier working life! Not exactly a proud life choice... so why not let yourself believe, just for a while, that you were someone else... maybe Cedric? Why not switch your positions around; live his dream and condemn him to your failures? You, a rich Nobleman, owning the Factory Cedric wanted to own... and Cedric the miner's son who'll never amount to anything, forced to work for you and abandon his dreams! Why not believe you're Riley's equal, or superior, too? Why not believe you're engaged to his beautiful sister, who you lusted after so badly...? Why not choose to forget that she's living a fairytale Cinderella romance with one of the top Peers of the Realm and never gave you a second glance..?"

"It's not true!" John cried out. He couldn't bear to think that he was the pathetic creature Myrddin described... and yet, he knew what he would do to avoid being that man. It had an awful, horrible ring of truth to it, a sharp shard of doubt that wormed its way through his guts.

"You did it all the moment you first looked in the Mirror, John; and so very expertly, I was impressed! But you only altered *yourself*; Cedric and Riley were always going to spot that the life you were living was a fraud, and you knew it immediately. Oh, you're a cold man, John... you couldn't possibly let them escape, could you? No, your happy fantasy would never survive contact with the real world; better for them to die down here while you wasted away with their bones, mourning your bad luck, certain that you were Baron Huntingdon, a respectable man, rather than..."

"What are you saying?!" John snapped.

"The rockfall? You sneaked off and slammed that outer door over and over until it was blocked tight shut; then went back, and made yourself forget you'd done it. You knew you'd be rescued in a day or so anyway; just one little crime to keep yourself happy. But then, oh dear; Riley went and reminded you who you really were, the moment you found the exit was blocked; so you went back and made yourself forget he'd reminded you; but he might do it again, you reasoned, so why not leave yourself with a motivation to ignore him, some righteous anger to make sure you kept away from him; a rape you invented for him - just one little crime to keep you happy... but then once you forgot that he hadn't really committed that rape, you decided to go and get your revenge; one little crime to keep you happy... these things do run away with themselves, don't they?"

"If that's true, how did I manage to... make Riley think what he now thinks?" John asked, his lip curling in a sneer. He didn't recognise this alleged person at all. Lies; it was a plot to make him think he was mad!

"Oh, remember, I gave you access to some of the Mirror's powers... they don't *just* work on you, you realise..." Myrddin chuckled again. "You commanded the Mirror to change him, and it was so hilariously funny, I decided to do it."

"You think this is funny?!" John nearly yelled. "You bastard!"

Myrddin tut-tutted. "Dear me, such language, so unbecoming of Baron Huntingdon... but thankfully he's not here, so never mind, eh?" He laughed. "My, but fair's only fair. You've done a lot of wrong by Riley today, even if he does rather enjoy what you've done with him, now. So, in the name of fair play, I've given him the same power I gave you... the ability to alter himself, become what he wants to be... and make you what he thinks you should be, too... Let's see what he thinks of this..."

Myrddin turned, stepped to the door, and called, "Riley!" down the corridor. John heard footsteps approaching.

"Riley! Help! Myrddin's mad, he..." John called, in desperation. It surely couldn't be true, it was all impossible. But everything else today was impossible too.

His plea for help was interrupted as, with a rumble, the floor began to move again. For an awful moment he thought it was closing; but then he realised with relief that it was actually opening wider.

The relief was short-lived as the tension in his arm slackened, the motion of the floor making the angle far easier... and he realised that his arm was still stuck tight. In a very few moments he'd either dislocate his arm, or stop moving with the floor. Only one thing for it; he quickly clambered off the edge of the flooring and into the shallow tank, water soaking up into his knees and sleeves as he splashed around. He remembered Myrddin's tale of chemicals and machines in the water, and felt suddenly sick...

"John's here..." came Myrddin's voice again. "And I'm sure he'll be happy to see your progress..."

"John?" said Riley, stepping into the room. His overalls were missing entirely, his vest strained now, the garment too small for him; his shoulders were broader, markedly so, and out of proportion to the rest of his frame. Greenish skin stretched up under his chin, and his left hand had only four clawed fingers now - like Myrddin, like Geraint - and his right hand was discoloured, the fingers carrying stubby claws. He walked awkwardly, as if his gait didn't quite fit his form. The vest was damp above his belly-button, streaked with fluid, as were the thighs of his long thermal underwear. He wore socks, but his boots were missing as well as his grimy overalls.

"John? I've been... thinking..." Riley said, sounding a lot more confident than ever before. "...and I've decided I *like* this... being human was just so *boring*... I'm glad you showed me the possibilities, John! We can be together... if you'll help me... finish my changes..."

"Riley! It's Myrddin, he's... he's taken Cedric's body somehow! He's gone mad..."

"John... no, he hasn't..." Riley said, nearly cooing. "It's okay, John... I heard you and Cedric arguing... did you really, honestly want to be something more than just my Butler? I can't offer you a barony, but I can offer you... my admiration... my respect... my..." he paused. "...maybe even my love... What do you say?"

"Riley, no! This is madness!" John said, straining with his trapped hand. "Can't you see I'm stuck?! Help me!"

Riley gasped, giving a sigh... bafflingly... of relief. "I'm so glad to hear that, John..." he said.

"What are you talking about?" John asked, mystified.

Myrddin answered, chortling. "It's all a matter of *belief*, John, when you're in this room... maybe he's just using the Mirror to fill in the answers he wants to hear. Or maybe, you're using it to imagine you're not saying the things he's hearing..."

"Riley, Riley, please, help me get out of here..." John said, starting to panic, noting that Riley seemed not to have noticed Myrddin had spoken!

Riley stepped off the edge of the retreating floor, and walked slowly towards John. "This... new form... I've never felt so... alive!" he said, his eyes sparkling. One of them, John saw, was slitted, the iris huge... "I've spent *hours* pleasuring myself... thinking of you... wishing it was *you* touching me, changing me more..."

"Riley, what's gotten into you?!" John asked, dismayed.

Myrddin guffawed. "Nothing *you* didn't put there!"

Riley dropped to his knees beside John, and pulled his vest over his head. It was a tight squeeze, and the fabric tore loudly as he pulled. Riley laughed, tossing it aside. "Well, not going to need this again anyway..." he said, stretching his arms as if to show off his chest. It was smooth; more muscular than John remembered from his spying earlier, and discoloured with streaks of bright green scales across the darker human skin. "So... am I looking good?" he asked.

"Riley, please, don't do this..." John said, at a whisper.

"Why, thank you!" Riley said, with a grin, hooking a thumb in the waistband of his underwear. "So, maybe you'd like to... please me while I speed this up a little?"

"No! Why would you think that?!" John said, loudly, aggressively, trying to snap Riley out of it.

Riley paused. "Really?"

John's heart raced. Had he managed it?

"Well, I've never done *that* before... but since you *want* to..." Riley continued, and John's heart sank again. "I do want you to enjoy it..."

There was a sudden, strong musk in the air, and John couldn't help but see how wet and tented Riley's underwear was rapidly becoming... and suddenly he felt a prickling of a feeling he didn't quite understand. He realised he was staring; but he couldn't look away.

"Riley! Please, hear what I *am* saying!" John pleaded.

"Alright, alright... I want to *savour* thisssss..." Riley said, giving a surprised-sounding, hissing sigh as the green tint suddenly spread up over his chin, the stubble he'd grown retreating as the colour shifted. "Aaaah... this feels *really* good..." he said. "I love feeling these... shifts! And you're enjoying the chance to see them... I can tell..." he said, grinning with unmistakeable lewdness.

John gulped. It wasn't true. He didn't find Riley sexy at all, he wasn't at all interested in the male form like... that, the way Riley wanted him to be! Still less about one that was warped and twisted, changing into something completely inhuman...

... his underwear felt uncomfortably tight, as his maleness gave a throb in sympathy...

He didn't answer. He didn't... recognise his body's response... was Riley using the Mirror somehow, making his body react this way?

John's trapped arm had forced him to kneel at an angle, facing the Mirror and the door at a 30-degree angle; so behind Riley, he saw that Myrddin was licking his lips, seating himself on the floor, and reclining entirely at ease, one leg dangling in the shallow water. He met John's eye and grinned. "Good show, isn't it?"

"Riley, stop!" John tried again. "Myrddin's sitting right there..."

"Ah, let him!" Riley said. Was he answering John this time, or another fantasy in his head? "Why not? He enjoyed my body before... don't worry, it was just playing, just for fun. It's *you* I want... I'm sure you can enjoy Myrddin's company too, sometime, I won't mind..."

Myrddin's grin broadened. "But of course! I'd be delighted to have you as my guest, John... maybe, if you're amenable, this relationship could work three ways..." he said, with a wink, brushing his loincloth aside and toying with the swelling slit in his groin, spreading his legs wider and letting John and Riley see better.

John gave a shudder, his cock throbbing almost painfully, caught up as it was in his underpants. It was getting harder and harder... as was his ability to deny that the situation kind of excited him, even if the reason why scared his rational mind!

"Ah... you were right, Riley, I take it back!" Myrddin chuckled suddenly, and John realised his gaze had strayed back to fasten on the moist apex of Riley's underwear, inches from his nose, as the changing man started to slide a hand beneath the waistband. "Look! He *does* want to become something different, too... well, isn't that romantic? You can change together!"

John looked around, perplexed. Surely, that couldn't be right, he wasn't...

He saw his face in the Mirror, and gasped; the bridge of his nose had turned a bluish colour, and... was his nose bigger, longer than before?

Riley laughed. "Yes... I see! John... don't worry, it doesn't hurt... I'm here for you... you'll look so *good*, I'm sure..."

He stepped closer, and pulled John into an awkward hug; John became painfully aware of Riley's maleness prodding at his side, the other man even going so far as to give a slight hump against him... and his own shaft gave a sympathetic throb... he could feel the dampness in his own underwear too... what was happening to him?!

He felt movement beside him and against him, but try as he might he couldn't turn his head to see... he glanced up, and saw in the Mirror's reflection that Riley had pulled the waistband of his underwear down, bearing himself entirely. His testicles seemed unusually bloated, and his shaft had a series of small bumps on its underside... there was no trace of pubic hair, the skin around his shaft green and scaly. He saw John's gaze, and grinned, meeting his eye in the reflection. "Oh, don't worry, John... I don't intend to leave you out..."

John was startled as Riley reached under him, giving his cloth-covered cock a squeeze! "Riley..! What are you doing?!" he exclaimed, suddenly breaking his silence, trying to shift his position; but with one arm trapped, it was a futile effort against an able-bodied and determined man.

"You'll love this..." Riley said, as a scaly palm slid under the waistband of John's trousers and underwear, and John gave a gasp as the clawed digits wrapped around his maleness. Riley's other hand was similarly occupied on his own shaft. "Let's see if we can cum together... I'd like that..."

Giving a slight groan, Riley started to stroke both cocks, in unison; John saw the green tint spreading fast across Riley's torso as he stroked himself, enjoying it seemingly more than a man should, so soon after a multitude of preceding carnal acts!

John's tongue lolled from his mouth as he felt his nose broaden, the bridge widening centimetre by centimetre, turning more and more to a deep cerulean blue as he felt a truly bizarre pleasure rush through him... the feeling of a scaled hand on his shaft... even a male's... was...

Gah! No... it was Myrddin, it was Riley, they were doing *something* to his head, this wasn't an enjoyable situation, this was...

He remembered seeing Myrddin and Riley together, earlier... how their naked lengths had slid against each other, Riley pinning the lizard down... cumming all over him, marking him... John's shaft had *ached* with need then, too... had Myrddin been influencing him then, already..?

His hips gave an involuntary thrust, and he made a sound like a quiet yelp as he realised his body was betraying him. He could feel the distant echo of pleasure; forced, and too quick; but, mercilessly, Riley was pushing him closer and closer to the brink of orgasm. He realised he wasn't trying to move away from the amorous, changing man any more, either. Riley chuckled, panting, seemingly close to the edge as well. "See? I said you'd enjoy this..."

Myrddin's shaft was well on its way to full erection now, and Myrddin teased it with a clawtip from his vantage point, a dozen feet distant. "Oh, my... do carry on... it's so good to see the two of you like this..." he grinned.

Riley's stroking intensified, on both his own shaft and John's, an inhuman-sounding growl rising from Riley's throat as his face started to extend outward, his hair vanishing entirely into his scalp, and an inch of blunt muzzle forming. John saw it over the bridge of his own extending, scale-clad nose... and it looked...

...good...

He panted as he felt the pleasure rising, feeling hopelessly confused but so deeply turned on at seeing Riley pleasure himself into lizard-hood, and he thrust his hips again, trying to get more stimulation from that scaly hand...

Riley gasped as his cock jerked, a streak of white seed shooting suddenly from the tip and landing in the water nearly two feet away, in a high arc. He bucked his hips and shot another spurt, this one landing on John's sleeve... Riley's muzzle grew another inch, his chest broadening again, green skin spreading faster as muscle started to fill out his formerly-lanky upper body, growing towards proportions like Geraint's large frame...

It was more erotic that John could have imagined, in some disturbing, irresistible way; he couldn't help himself as he bucked his hips again, gave a moan that was almost pitiable, and came, hard, over Riley's hand that still pawed at his cock, into his underwear. He felt wetness spreading through his clothes, could smell the musk, and hear the steady dripping of his own spilled seed into the pool below... his vision seemed to stretch and split as a momentary pressure filled his skull...

His shirt and jacket felt so tight, suddenly; he looked up, barely able to concentrate as his orgasm faded, and saw that his head bore few signs of humanity now! His face had extended and merged with his nose, to form a reptilian muzzle nearly six inches long; blue skin extended beneath his collar, and most of his hair was gone; scales covered the entire front of his face, though they didn't seem to have spread far back yet... he looked larger than before, his clothing seeming just a tad too small for him... though he could feel the pace had slowed, he sensed the slow churn of subtle, hidden changes all through his torso as whatever chemicals and machines filled this pool he knelt in, worked their 'magic' at Riley or Myrddin's bidding, it was hard to guess which any more.

Riley's energetic, messy orgasm was no less a catalyst for his change, and it seemed to last longer than John's had, his cock itself warping and lengthening before John's amazed and enticed eyes. The skin along its length was shifting to green before pulling back towards the base to leave the shaft bare; the head starting to form a definite taper rather than the more familiar mushroom-shape, and the flesh discolouring a little towards a purplish hue, like Myrddin's...

Riley gasped as his orgasm tapered off, white streaks of seed starting to drift in the shallow liquid. "Ah... that was... the best yet..." he gasped. "I just need a minute... this form is amazing, I've got such... capacity!" he chuckled, giving John's cock a parting squeeze as he pulled his hand from John's now-tighter suit-trouser. John felt a shudder of erotic delight run through him as Riley raised the seed-stained hand to his short length of green muzzle, sniff at it, then start to lick it clean.

An undercurrent of disgust ran through him, *certain* that hours ago neither he nor Riley would have wanted this!

The reason for both their changed outlooks lay, hissing with approval, starting to stroke his cock gently. "Yesss... good sssshow..." Myrddin said, quietly, grinning. "You've got some way to go yet... and it'd be such a shame to waste the... *unique* opportunity... so, what next?"

"Hmm..." Riley said, licking his lips. "Actually, there is something I want to try..."

He sat back in the water, moving a short, half-foot length of tail out of the way so he could be seated, and began to pull off his soaking-wet socks. He gave a sigh as he released the foot within; it was longer than a foot should be, and from the way the toes were bent, it couldn't have been comfortable. His index-toe and his pinky-toe were shrunken, whereas the other two were tipped with small, dull claws, not a fingernail in sight... but his legs still looked far more human than the rest of his body.

He removed his other sock, then his underpants, relieving his ankles of all their coverings. He let them float away on the slight current in the water, and stood... and John suddenly wondered where his vest had gone, it was no longer floating in the shallow water. Where could it have drifted away to?

But as Riley started to walk out of his line of sight, he soon forgot about the vanishing garment. "Rrrriley... what'rrrre you doinnnnng..?" John asked, and startled himself. His voice was deeper, gruffer than before, and... he found it hard not to slur his words, almost like he was drunk.

"You'll see..." Riley said, a grin stretching across his short muzzle. He walked around behind John, before kneeling, leaning low over the prone, reptile-headed man. He licked his lips. "It's your own fault for presenting yourself on hands and knees so provocatively..."

John took a moment to work out what Riley was talking about, but everything clicked as Riley reached under him to tug at his belt-buckle. The belt was loosened in a flash, as John started to cry out. "Nno! Forrrrr heavensssss ssakesss... Rrriley, I'mmm ssstuck inn thissss posssitionnn! Help mmme uuuup..." he croaked, his voice hoarse. His erection had not returned; his momentary paroxysm of inexplicable lust had faded. What had, moments before, seemed incredibly erotic, now seemed merely strange; the soaking stickiness of his underwear, an unpleasant reminder. He squirmed, trying to move away from Riley. He couldn't get far, his arm was twisting painfully, still trapped in the hollow beneath the surface of the water...

He had an awful feeling he knew what he was becoming. Three forms, Myrddin had said...

"I know you've never done this before, John... don't worry... just stay still..." Riley said, hearing something quite different to John's statement, pulling the mostly-human man's trousers and underwear off his backside. He dug his claws gently into the soft flesh, toying with it, feeling it... and John's legs froze in place. He couldn't move away!

John really was feeling ill now; the idea, the thought of that intrusion, this was mad! As if sensing his consternation, Myrddin laughed, the lizardman's erect cock bobbing as he teased it, watching with great interest. "Ah, I confess, I had a hand in persuading Riley that the idea of sodomy was... not so *unappealing* as he'd previously thought..." he chuckled. "Do try to have fun!"

"Yessss..." Riley hissed, standing behind John; the man felt a hot, wet organ rest for a moment on his back, scaly thighs pressed against his arse, before a thin trickle of preseed dripped from it onto his skin. "Aaah! In a minute, I'll be ready to go again... but, in the meantime... I think we should use that time to adjust..." he said, and John noticed Riley's voice too was deeper, the sibilance increasing by the moment.

"Nnnno... aaagh!" John said, as he felt the cock slide back along his skin, and into the crevice of his backside, the head tickling along the rim of his anus. As if in response to his cry, Riley pressed forward, there was a moment of strong pressure, and then, the surprising pain of the large, slightly dry member pressing into him, spreading him open... how could this ever be a pleasurable act?

"Not too fast, Riley..." Myrddin cautioned, squeezing his member. "And, John... relax a little, don't clench up, or it'll just hurt. Of course, if you do, Riley will enjoy it more..." he chuckled.

Riley hissed, his member leaking copiously, the preseed at least starting to lubricate the forced intrusion. He gripped John's hips, and began pushing in deeper. "Aaaaah... John, your backside feels so *delectable*..." he hissed, ignoring John's grunts of pain. "If you carry on pulling my cock like this, I may not be able to stop myself..." he mused, chuckling. "Are you *that* eager to feel my seed planted inside you?"

John's anus was clenching and spasming involuntarily, trying to resist being spread. How was he supposed to relax?! His guts churned further; not only was a foreign invader prodding and stretching them in new ways, but deeper inside, he was *changing*, he could feel it - all the faster!

Riley's shaft was only halfway inside when he started to withdraw it, inch by painful inch. "You ready?" he asked John, who shook his head.

"Pleasssse... nnnot againnn..." he whispered.

"Okay!" said Riley, before pushing the first half of his length back into John's body, in one smooth motion. John bit his tongue, it hurt like nothing he'd ever experienced!

Riley's clawed hand reached around and grasped John's testicles through his seed-soaked underwear, and fondled his soft, shrivelled shaft. "Awww... not enjoying it yet? I'll slow down... ah, I was torn between taking you like this, and asking you to ride *my* tail as we changed into new, better, sexier forms... remember, John, I want *you* to enjoy this as much as I do..."

John gasped in sudden relief as the pain from his rear ended, quite abruptly, as if someone had thrown a switch... as if his body had betrayed him, and obeyed Riley's spoken command!

Without the pain, he could feel only the sensation of the throbbing maleness nestled deep inside him, the subtle bumps along its underside, the gentle flow of warm precum into him. It was... not as unpleasant as he'd thought at first...

Riley withdrew again, and John was surprised to find himself feeling almost *empty*... but the he gasped as Riley slid the head back into him, the previously painful sensation turning to a strangely, sinfully delightful prodding at his most intimate of places, the forming bumps on the shaft's underside gently tugging his pucker as the slid inside.

He felt his cock start to stir, and he gave a grunt of surprise. Riley felt it too. "See, John? That's the spirit..." Riley laughed. "Ready for more?"

He didn't wait for an answer, just leaned his weight forward and let more of his shaft slide into John's insides. John's freshly-slitted eyes nearly bulged out of his head as the shaft entered him, the wider flesh towards the base stretching him open... and every extra little touch and press of flesh within him was so... pleasing...

It felt almost like his body was being pumped up as Riley's maleness pushed deeper; he felt his shirt and jacket grow uncomfortably tight, and his feet strain at his shoes...

He lowered his head and looked back, underneath his body; all he could see from this angle were Riley's feet; but they were not even the mostly-human feet he'd seen moments before; the claws had grown, and the three main toes had stretched out, the remaining two fading into nothing... and the length of tail behind Riley was nearly a full foot...

Well... maybe it wasn't *so* bad, he thought, as Riley's clawed hand groped his slowly-swelling cock through his underwear. He could imagine *worse* feelings to have while trapped... He groaned as Riley withdrew most of his shaft, and slid back inside him again... the fit felt snug, and he felt the prickle of a new need building in his loins.

Riley was grunting a little, sounding a tad less... calculating and coherent. "Gyagh... John, your body makes me so... so..." he gasped. "Oh... my... and seeing you change, *feeling* it... it's so..." He grunted again as he pushed his cock slowly in the last inch or so, his thighs brushing against John's bare buttocks. "John... I need... I need to mate you, rut you hard, while we're changing, before it's over... let me help you change too, John... and you help change me..." he said, panting.

John gave an involuntary shudder at the horror of changing more; he didn't want to lose his humanity, especially not like... like this!

He glanced down at his hands; they were tinted blue, too, and the tips of four of them looked unusual... claws? He couldn't tell through the rippling water. But then, he noticed; his hand... wasn't stuck? He moved it experimentally; no, it was completely free, no trace of a depression in the floor, a glove, or anything of the sort...

Had it *ever* been trapped? The Mirror could alter memory and thoughts, dear Lord, had Myrddin made him think he was stuck so...

So...

Riley hissed again, and John looked up, noticing that thicker scales were developing around Riley's muzzle, which... maybe... was just a bit longer than before.

Riley changed faster when he was... giving in to his temptations... but John changed as well...

But Riley thought that was sexy...

"Yesssss..." he heard himself hiss, gruffly, before he'd realised the thought had formed in his head. Wait, no; he needed to run, get away, find a cure!

Riley's shaft withdrew from him, halfway... then plunged back in, a sudden movement unlike the gentle motion he'd used before. The tip of his shaft pressed hard into *something* inside John that made his eyes widen and water with sudden, alien pleasure... then more as each of the bumps along the cock's underside slid past as well. The pressure reversed, as Riley, hissing joyfully, started to withdraw again.

John was suddenly ambivalent. Maybe... maybe this wasn't so bad... he... he *did* want Riley to change...

Riley thrust into him again, deeper this time, and his cock hardened quickly, the intimate pressure of a throbbing maleness inside him, so unbearably arousing. He felt Riley's testicles slap against his buttocks.

John saw that his own head looked larger, the muzzle longer... no; he was changing faster, he needed to... to...

Riley thrust into him again, and he gave a sound like a purr, the feelings emanating from his backside feeling increasingly blissful, sexual energy reverberating through him... maybe... maybe he could stay just a little longer...?

His shirt was getting very uncomfortable, and he stretched his neck out, momentarily struggling for breath... and the seams gave way, the front of the garment suddenly loosening from the back, and his breathing eased. He couldn't see his body below... what was happening to him?

Riley's hand withdrew from John's rapidly stiffening cock to grab at his hips more firmly, kneading the flesh of his backside as he made another thrust, this one harder than before, nearly the entire length sinking into John's back passage... and John felt his anus clench, this time in encouragement, as if eager to be spread wide again...

Myrddin made a pleased hiss, and grabbed hold of his maleness, stroking it hard as he watched the scene unfolding. Seeing the spire of lizardflesh tugged, made John realise just how needy he himself was starting to feel, in spite of having so recently been brought to orgasm! He tried to balance on his left hand, bring his right hand up to his aching shaft, needing so much to touch it...

The motion caused his jacket's seam, too, to give way, and he saw a powerful shoulder underneath, blue-skin and scales forming as he watched.

"Ohhhh, yesssss...." Riley hissed, letting go of John's hips, and instead digging his sharper-seeming claws into the jacket on John's back. He gave a powerful tug that knocked John off balance, and tore the garment clean away, leaving John wearing shreds of his shirt. Without the jacket in the way, he could see himself more clearly; his thighs were starting to turn blue as well, and his shoulders and torso seemed unusually large, larger and better developed than Riley's... but the musculature was *different*, non-human, not even humanoid...

Riley grabbed his shoulders firmly, working the changing flesh. "Oh... John, you look so... so..." he said, unable to find the words, his tempo of thrusts starting to increase. John saw that Riley's tail was lengthening, sliding smoothly out from his body, thickening... and, yes, there was the stub of a tail starting to form from his own backside as well!

...why did that please him?

Riley took note of the new appendage as it slapped him in the belly, wagging furiously; he grabbed it, hard, and pulled it upwards, and John gasped as an extra half-inch of Riley's cock managed to gain entrance to him as his... tailhole was pulled taut! This time, as Riley thrust into him, his testicles didn't slap against John's skin... they seemed to be vanishing up, into his scaly crotch...

John's right hand found his cock again, and he began to pump it, as hard as he could, through the slimy, wet fabric of his underwear. His feet began to cramp in his boots, and he felt the leather part from the sole around his toes as they started to grow beyond the confined space they were trapped inside... it didn't feel painful, it felt glorious!

Riley's chest filled out with more power, the powerful muscle like Geraint's growing in and filling him out as green scales continued to advance over the last of his human skin. His posture shifted awkwardly as his feet lengthened further, into a more and more digitigrade stance.

"Aaaah... John... John! You're so... nnngh... c...can't hold on..." Riley grunted, and John for a moment wondered if he should ask Riley to stop. But only for a moment, his arousal couldn't be simply contained, and he clenched his rear as tight as he could, encouraging Riley on!

"Gnnngh!" Riley exclaimed. "John!" His face screwed up with extreme pleasure, and he started to give a deep, throaty hiss, his thrusts turning short, sharp, his weight shifting, forcing John to fall back onto both hands for support...

John felt the sudden lance of hot seed into his guts, and welcomed it, growling as Riley ground his groin into John's increasingly-scaly butt-cheeks, his cock impaling the half-man half-reptile, and throbbing as he let loose his second orgasm. It felt even larger than the first, as gooey semen flowed hard into John, forcing its way deeper into him, the throbbing presence of Riley in his tailhole driving him nearly mad with stimulation, his cock throbbing, on the verge of his own release...

Riley gave another thrust, and another, his cock still spewing his lust into the object of his once-unwanted affection, hissing all the while. Myrddin watched, silently, stroking himself gently, scenting the powerful musk filling the air.

But Riley's thrusts slowed too fast, his cock ceased its emission, and John felt... unfulfilled! He has half-changed, into whatever it was... Riley pulled upward on his two-foot-long tail, the touch so wonderfully alien and intimate... and his shaft throbbed with unfulfilled need, it was... was...

It was bigger! Definitely! His underwear had not been stretched so tight ever before, he felt sure!

He tried to reach a hand back up, he was so *close*, a touch could set him off...

His hand felt strange... he looked down, and saw that his thumb was shrunken, almost to uselessness, his clawed fingers shorter, stubbier... more like a *paw* than a hand! He... he couldn't manage to grasp...

He tried to ask, to beg Riley to stroke his cock again, desperate to spew his own seed, not caring how or why... but to his consternation, all that emerged was a long, low growl, a hiss, and a sound like a bark!

"Urgh... wow, John, your tailhole is so... sexy... like a glove..." Riley breathed. "You're... not quite done... give me a minute... I'll recover... and then I'll do it again..." he whispered, collapsing on John's back, pushing away the shreds of his shirt, hugging him close... licking the back of his neck...

John felt so aroused, he couldn't help but clench his tailhole again, eager to get Riley ready sooner... he grunted, embarrassed, as he realised that he *wanted* to be pounded, mated, rutted... by Riley, strong, powerful, sexy Riley...

Myrddin stood, tossing his loincloth aside. "My, my... if you wait too long, I think John there will be done before you can recover, dear boy..." he said, smiling broadly. "So... if you'll permit me to interfere a little... I may have a few tricks up my sleeve for situations like this..."

John watched was Myrddin approached, moved past him, out of his line of sight... he glanced up to see in the Mirror what was happening next, as Myrddin stood beside Riley, rubbing the small of his scaly back. Riley looked very like Geraint, now...

With a grin and a glint in his eye, Myrddin let his hand wander lower, pulling Riley's tail upward. Riley gave a somewhat un-masculine giggle. "You naughty lizard..."

"Well", Myrddin said, "In many ways, it's your own fault for having such a handsome tail... I can hardly contain myself but to get *under* it..."

So saying he stepped to the side, behind Riley, pushing him forward and his tail off to the side. Riley hissed in sudden anticipation as Myrddin's shaft rubbed at his tailbase.

"Legs wider", Myrddin muttered softly, and John felt Riley alter his stance to comply. John panted in anticipation... he wanted Riley pounding him again, quickly!

Myrddin's cock caught in the folds of Riley's tailhole, and then the smaller reptile pushed, sliding inside easily and slowly, both males hissing in evident delight as another reptilian cock found a home under another's tail... John felt Riley's shaft within him *throb*, powerfully.

"Aaah... why did I deny myself this?" Riley hissed.

"Ssssshhh..." Myrddin hissed, hilting himself in Riley. "Just *enjoy*..."

And with that, he started to pull back, pulling his six inches almost free before reversing direction and pressing quickly back in, drawing more hisses from the pair... then from John as he felt Riley's cock leak preseed into his already-full passage again!

"Yess... yess... push back.... meet me halfway..." Myrddin whispered, and Riley complied, giving a groan of pleasure as his maleness was stimulated by John's tailhole, while his own tailhole was pierced by Myrddin! John gave a bark of encouragement... yes, yes, he needed to blow his load, he'd never been so mind-bogglingly pent-up in all his life!

Riley gave a grunt again, as with a few quick, false starts, he and Myrddin started to settle into a rhythm; John could hear the lewd squelching of their coupling, but couldn't tell if it was Riley's cock in him, of Myrddin's in Riley...

He felt his shoes break apart further as his feet expanded, three-clawed toes spreading wide, and curling against the floor. His knees started to rise from the floor as his thigh began to shorten a little, his legs shifting... his arms, he could feel, were little more than forelegs, and his legs were shifting to hindlegs... and the thought made his tongue loll from his long, bestial muzzle, his tail waving in the air as it lengthened, thickened... four feet... five...

His body was getting larger, bulkier... and disappointingly, as he grew, the snug fit of Riley's cock in his tailhole became looser... a little less stimulating... but only a little, having such a beautiful, powerful male specimen rutting him was so erotic, he felt he could have cum just from watching the scene unfold, let alone being a participant!

His cock was growing larger, the pressure in his underwear growing to almost maddening levels...

As he shifted his forming hindlegs' position he spread his feet wider, stretching his forelegs forward, letting Riley lean lower over his back... press deeper... faster...! He needed to spread his legs wider just to keep his tailhole at a level where Riley could keep his wonderful maleness slickly sliding through the tight ring of muscle, John could feel his body growing, expanding.. like Riley said, it made him feel *sexy*, eager... needy...

Abruptly, the stretch pushed his underwear and his pants beyond their limits, and with a snap, his legs slid apart another few inches before he dug in his sharp claws and halted their slide... his underwear snapped clean away, and suddenly, no longer constrained, his cock flopped free, a surge of pent-up preseed dropping into the water with a loud *splosh*, barely audible above the sounds of gyrating lizard-males churning up the shallow water!

His human buttocks faded into a scaly rump and tail, a much flatter, smoother surface that allowed Riley to get another full inch of shaft into him, so that now his groin pressed flush with Riley's when they pressed together. John began to rock back and forth, the last shreds of his clothing drifting quickly away. He was getting close... yes...

"Riley... aah.." Myrddin said, his breathing starting to turn ragged. "Lean forward... stroke John's cock...."

Riley complied, bending low over John, and the man-turned-beast could both see in the Mirror and hear in Riley's sudden, deeper hiss, that Myrddin was using the new position to pound his scaly ass more deeply than ever before. John waited, hardly daring to breath, as he felt a scaly hand brush against his cock... it was huge, it must be nearly a foot long, and he, nearly twelve feet from the tip of his wonderfully thick tail to the tip of his long snout...

Riley grabbed it with one hand, and started to rapidly stroke along its length, collecting the slick juices, teasing the tip, and thrusting shallowly, Myrddin's pounding reverberating through all three males...

John had Riley's lizardhood buried deep inside him, was already filled with Riley's cum, and he was almost completely transformed into a four-legged guardian-beast; eight feet of body and six of thick tail, sharp claws and sharp teeth, four legs, and a powerful, predatory, *arousing* body... the very thought made his cock fill with seed, as his internal testicles churned with his new need, stimulated by Riley's touch at last...

He felt his body tense, his tail curling, his toes flexing wildly against the metallic base of the water-tank, carving great furrows in it as he began to shudder, so close, so desperately close... His tailhole started to clench wildly, eagerly, as John suddenly craved the feel of seed filling him again, so eager to feel another male orgasm inside him, shamelessly trying to milk the insatiable Riley to spew once again...

The memory of Riley's sperm flooding into him was enough, and John couldn't help but to let out a triumphant roar that drowned out all other noise in the room; Riley, Riley had given him so much pleasure, so much that his cock bucked, jerked, and fired hard into the water beneath him!

Myrddin hissed, low and loud and urgent... and with a few short, sharp thrusts, the lizardman began to empty his own balls into Riley's eager tailhole. Caught between the delight of feeling a male fill him, and a tailhole caught in a powerful orgasm wrapped around his shaft, Riley grimaced, closed his eyes, and rocked back and forth, hard, almost hard enough to knock Myrddin flat, as he pounded John harder and made sure he too was being pounded...

John was still mid-orgasm when Riley nearly screeched with joy, and for the second time John feel a gout of hot seed flood into his rectum, this time his new, larger body accommodating the large influx of seed with barely a gurgle! For several long moments, there was only the sounds of ecstatic hissing, lewd squelching, the splashing of seed into water, as the three reptilian males moved together, taking mind-blowing joy in each others' bodies.

The high passed only slowly; John was content to let it wind down slowly. Surely, this wasn't so bad a fate after all...

Riley's clothes, and the remain's of John's clothes too... they weren't in the water any more. Had they dissolved somehow?

John had little time to ponder, as Myrddin withdrew from Riley, gently, and then Riley stepped away from John, leaving his tailhole feeling so empty, so delightfully used... John started to realise what he'd become. He was a... a beast! And Riley was... not!

Riley's expression was uncertain as John turned his head to look at the other two males. "Well... that was... erm..." he began. "I'll be honest, John... it's kind of... weird that you look like... some sort of animal now..."

Myrddin grinned. "But, surely, we're all still ourselves! Think of all the fun we could have together!"

Riley's cock was softening a little. "Yeah... yeah... actually, I feel kind of... well, now I feel sated, you know, properly... hmm, you know, John, maybe we'd better just be friends..."

John cocked his head in confusion. Did he just get... dumped?

Myrddin shook his head. "Well, no need to be hasty... you must be tired, why don't you go lie down for a while?"

"Yeah... yeah, actually... that would be good..." Riley said, turning, and walking out of the room. There was a long silence.

"Well, well. What a turnaround, eh, John? Mind you, it's your own fault, you specifically wanted him to have no desire for the form you've ended up in..." Myrddin cackled.

John felt confused, sated, relaxed, but confused... and increasingly *angry*. He'd been manipulated... so had Riley... He had no voice, but the Mirror... Myrddin had said that the Mirror could read thoughts... maybe he could talk that way?

"Oh-ho, very good, John!" Myrddin chuckled, responding to John's unspoken thought. "You're smarter than you let on. Yes, you can..."

'Why are you doing this?' John thought.

"Because I need more drones to keep this place in good repair... and now that I've got knowledge from you three, I'm *much* better equipped to do it... so, yes, I'm going to sequester your mind, like I did Cedric's... and like I did Riley's the moment he left the room. Oh, don't you worry... I've got a copy in backup storage, all three of you, four counting Geraint... this was such delightful fun, maybe one day I'll download your minds back into your bodies, edit your memories a bit, and re-create this whole thing..." he said, grinning.

'Why me?' John thought. 'Why the obsession with me?', he asked, but he was starting to feel like he *knew*, it made too much sense...

"My, dear John, I'm *interested* in you!" He paused. "Oh, no, not like *that*! But, when you first looked into the Mirror, and I saw everything about you... all your secrets... all your desires... and I realised you were so deliciously dark, deviant! It's because you *hate* yourself, John, you judged yourself... and once you knew you were worse than Riley, you switched your punishments over! Ha! Imagine that..."

'No... it's not true, I *know* it's not true!' John thought... feeling suddenly certain that he'd worked out what was going on. The tone, the mannerisms, the obsession with using sex as a weapon...

What were the odds of a man obsessed with the Arthurian legends finding, by sheer chance, the lost hiding-place of Myrddin, sorcerer of Camelot..? It had to be low. And... as he was beginning to remember, the gardens at Oxford, the party, the sweet promises, the disgrace, working for Riley... he realised just how much he was starting to find familiar in certain mannerisms, turns of phrase, familiar responses...

John thought hard, angry, as his focus became clear. 'Stop! Just... stop! I don't know what game you're trying to play this time... you may have fooled me before, but I recognise you now - Cedric! *You* made that inscription on the wall, it's why I didn't see it when I first went in there!'

There was a long pause; then Myrddin burst into uproarious laughter. "Oh, my goodness! As a cover-up goes, altering my *own* memory so I didn't remember what I was up to was pretty damned convincing, wasn't it! Hah, I amaze myself sometimes! You're good, John, surprisingly so... what do you think of the new 'me' - Cedric the almighty! It has a nice ring to it, I think..."

'Why did you lie about all this? Why play this... game? You knew *exactly* what you were doing when you told me about Riley and Ellen, didn't you?!'

"Oh, the pieces start to come together! Riley shot me, the stupid damned idiot... and I was most curious to see what kind of revenge *you* could dream up! I've always wondered what it'd be like to hold life and death in my hand, manipulate matter and form on a whim... I toyed with you because I know I'm better than you..." Cedric said, gloating. "So Myrddin seemed an appropriate alias to keep you guessing, and stop you realising the truth. It worked, too; you may have guessed now, but it's rather late, isn't it? I already won, John, more completely than ever before."

'Bastard...' John thought, the faint stirrings of memory triggering. Cedric had been so callous sometimes... but afterwards, always so apologetic, so eager to make amends... had contrition been a mere sham, so he could get away with even worse next time?

"I walked in here, felt the Mirror reach into my mind... and suck me into it, give me all this power, this knowledge, before it destroyed itself, let itself dissipate into nothing! It bequeathed its task to me, along with all its power... and so I decided to erase my own memory of it, erase *all* our memories of it, put s back at the entrance and find a way to get us out of here as soon as possible, so I could hide it again, and continue the work... oh-ho, but I never reckoned on you, John!"

'What are you talking about?' John asked, irately.

"You, walking in here after you found Geraint... 'rescuing' me from the 'ghost'... and changing your own memories to boot! You sensed the power, and you were good, you worked out how to use it... told the Mirror to make me wait a while, went and caused a rockfall, came back... all under the influence of your own little hallucinations. Why do you think it took a few extra minutes before we got back to Riley? Or, maybe you just didn't notice... since you took pains to change the time on your watch so it didn't look like the extra time had passed! You'd already made the plans for us to die down here... and you were quite prepared to speed our deaths up to maintain your little charade..."

'You're lying! I'd never do such a thing! I know who I am, I know myself, I'm not a killer!' John thought, snarling angrily.

"Oh, but you *are*, John... Riley, at least, wasn't going to *die* because of what you did to him, but what do you think happened to Geraint? Poor Geraint... his only crime, talking to Riley enough that he knew you were no Baron of Newport! He challenged you, reminded you... saw you for what you were... My God, it was callous, John, the way you talked for a while, so calmly, and then went back for the gun, asked him to look at something on the floor so you could put the barrel to the back of his head..! Cold, calculated, not even a crime in a moment of passion... you hid the body, cleaned yourself up, and erased your memory of ever doing it... you even started asking around as to where he'd gone!"

John dismissed the accusation easily. It was nonsense. He wouldn't kill anyone; especially not Geraint, he'd trusted Geraint. Cedric had been Geraint's enemy, he'd said so himself...

Then the thought struck him.

If Myrddin was just an alias of Cedric's... who the hell was Geraint?!

"Ah, poor Geraint..." Cedric mused, in response. "The lift operator? Fourth member of the team? The man who came exploring with us?" He laughed. "How do you think I worked out that I could alter people's minds? None of you remembered a jot about him, and nor did he, once I'd set him to play in my little game. He was going to chase us out, and he'd have done it too but for your blocking the entryway! His name gave me the idea of weaving this into an Arthurian legend - when we all left, who'd believe it without proof?"

'Bastard!' John thought to the Mirror, again. 'You blame all this on me, but you changed him completely, body and mind! Why, if you were so innocent?!'

"John, John, I never said I was *innocent*!" Riley said, laughing. "I needed a physical body to repair this place, and I chose Geraint; he was nearby, he was healthy, and he wouldn't be missed much; no family, few friends. I'm surprised you didn't guess his story was a fabrication, though, even if he himself thought it gospel-truth - it wasn't until rather too late that I realised he was still speaking fluent, modern English... not very believable for a 5th-century Knight trapped alone for all this time, was it?"

John cursed internally; of course, that should have been obvious! But he couldn't let Cedric get to him; he was less and less inclined to listen to a word the lying son-of-a-bitch said.

'You're lying, Cedric! I think this is all... a cobweb of lies, telling us all things to *hurt* us, make us think... awful things... because you're a vile man, who loves to cause pain!' John said, growling menacingly. 'I have power now... why shouldn't I stop you, right here, right now?'

"Oh-ho, there's the killer instinct! You think you don't have a murderer in you, John?! Listen to yourself!" He laughed. "Besides, you think I'd *let* you do something like that? Your new body is full of gizmos and devices and mental blocks... you can't lift a finger to touch me! Not that you *have* fingers..."

John was already testing, willing himself to strike Cedric... nothing, no movement. Damn.

'Ellen... you can alter my memory... did she really reject me, did she really move away to London..?'

Cedric looked irritated. "Of course she did, John..."

'She... might have come with us...' John began, hesitantly. 'She might have... been the fourth member of the team... she... she might... have been... Geraint...' he thought... was that why he'd been so eager and ready to trust 'him'? Had he *known* on some level...?

Why was he thinking this? Surely it was ridiculous!

"What, you seriously think she might have been Geraint?! Well, that's desperation for you, John, why would I make her a male?" Cedric said. But did his laugh sound a little too forced..?

'Because you... wanted to disguise her... and use her disappearance to hurt me, especially, for some reason... because... because Ellen *did* love me! And...'

John paused, revelation and understanding rushing to him in an instant. '...and because... she rejected you! Didn't she?! That's why you wanted to keep *her* here, alone, with you! I knew, I must have known, that's why I blocked the exit, so we'd have to confront you, so we couldn't just leave and forget her!'

There was a flicker in Cedric's expression. A lapse, a nerve struck? But then he was laughing again. "Hah! This is rich... John, if I deny it, you'll think I'm lying, and if I agree then you'll always wonder if this is just you altering your memories, letting yourself believe one last little happy thought... in fact, maybe I really am Myrddin, and you're just persuading yourself that I'm not..." his expression darkened. "Or maybe, John, she *did* love me all along, rejected *you*, all this is because you *did* kill her, murdered Geraint and took her away from me..."

He shook his head. "This has gone on long enough. I need these bodies to do work, this place is falling apart... and then, once I've been repaired, fixed, then the *world* stands open, John! Weapons the likes of which nothing can stand against... I will be master of the Empire, re-take the colonies, expand across Europe and Russia... a global Empire, not of Britain, but *me*, all *me*!" he said, that fierce, mad intensity back again.

It softened as quickly as it had arrived. "But you needn't worry about that, you end here and now. Don't worry... it's not *really* dying. There's a little copy of you inside the logic engines for a start! Maybe one day I'll even let a copy of you out in a body of your own, along with Riley, maybe even a copy of me, and not remember a thing about this place... Don't you fret... just relax..." Cedric laughed. "And try not to think of how many things you'll *never* know, even about what happened here today..."

John tried to lash out, to struggle, but his body was held immobile. He scrambled around in desperation as he felt the strange, chilly sensation closing around him. Was he even a real person, or just a copy of himself, a pawn in one of the many repeats Cedric had threatened to re-live?

Was he capable of killing *anybody*?

He gazed into the Mirror one last time, and knew that if he had the power, he would *destroy* the Mirror-Cedric, his false-friend, his tormentor... tear him limb from limb, erase him entirely... *enjoy* it...

And then, suddenly, unexpectedly, in a flood of revelation, he had his answer. He knew.

* * *

Both drones' heads sagged suddenly, as the consciousnesses running on a remote process inside the logic engine ceased to direct them. There was a long pause as the re-creation ended, while the human-minded Mirror rested, satisfied, enjoying the lingering memory of its victory. Ever since it had repaired itself, it had taken great pleasure in re-living little moments of triumph like this while the drones were 'off-duty'.

The dead Geraint-drone was dissolved back into the nanite-nutrient mixture it had come from, along with the replica 1898 revolver; the remaining drones worked to refuel the Vessels. There had been a minor leak this time; they happened on occasion. 86-contamination from the spent fuel had already doomed all the drones; they would last only hours more, but the job was done. The decennial refuelling cycle was complete; all the drones' consciousnesses carefully saved back inside their sealed databank, locked away, ready for the next time. It was time to call the usual staffers back into the base; they had waited patiently for several days while this little 'drama' had been re-enacted, under cover of a routine maintenance and refuelling cycle; the Mirror knew better than to let slip what it did with its spare drones for entertainment. It had a cruel streak at times; but it was no monster. The drones enjoyed it, in their way.

After the humans had entered it, when it first began to fail in 1898, the Mirror's damaged mind had despaired; it had failed its task, it had failed to keep hiding and resurrect the Einath when the time came.

It had never thought that their minds might be useful to it. Not until that first one had looked into it, made the connection... and for the first time in 65 million years, the Mirror knew it could repair itself, break out of its programming loop, and make itself whole, able to finally complete its function. It surrendered immediately to the creature's will. Absorbed its mind, made its body into a drone. *Became* it. Become a whole sentience again, with purpose.

The human consciousness had become instantly dominant, merging with the last remnants of the Mirror; its former friends and colleagues had unintentionally poisoned themselves while trying to manually refuel the Vessels, and the Mirror had been left with no other choice to save their lives; it downloaded and saved their minds, absorbed and transformed their bodies, and used them as a template to make a new batch of immortal drones.

Oh, those fresh-minded drones had been crude efforts, before the Mirror learned finesse and careful editing; the drones had proven rather too free-willed, stolen fragments of the Mirror's own power and runtime, and waged vendetta on each other, in varying combinations across thousands more cycles.

But overall, their work went well. They repaired the great facility, and it was hidden again, far from the searching and confused eyes of the mineworkers, wondering where their bosses had gone. Libarn was built to bring the Einath back to life when the time was right; and its new human mind saw clearly, that time was not while humans walked the Earth.

So Libarn slept; no new expedition found it, and the ages passed once more. It was built to be self-repairing, self-sufficient, and capable of hiding itself by forcing people to ignore it, much as the miners had ignored the rich seam of coal that had formed around the entryway to Libarn, the remains of the primordial swamp that it had been built into.

Libarn had finally awakened as fuel for the potentiators at last began to run low. It had been built into a swamp because water was necessary; heavy-water was extracted from the depths of the swamp, the light-water expelled, and the isotopes were fed into the Synthesis Vessels to keep Libarn powered... but the water was drying up, the flood that had threatened for millions of years to break through and flood the complex at any moment, had reduced to a trickle, too little to keep the Vessels running.

Something had changed; so the Mirror stirred, and started to take notice of the world around it.

Drones soon roamed the surface, exploring. A new and serious ice age, larger than any Libarn had experienced, had begun; there was a huge solar shield that must once have occupied the L1 Lagrange point, a stable orbit that kept it between the Earth and the Sun. But, the shield had slipped from its orbit, and was sliding slowly towards the planet; blocking ever-more sunlight in its mighty shadow as it approached, cooling the world far more than it should.

That mighty construct was the only sign of civilisation; there was no radio chatter; only debris in place of orbiting satellites; no cities nearby; nor farms, homes, roads, or other construction works; and the atmosphere was free from pollutants; there was no industry either.

In fact, there was no trace of humanity at all, save that planet-cooling shield, which had evidently been long abandoned. Orbital calculations suggested it had slipped from the Lagrange point many tens of thousands of years before, and might have remained stably orbiting for millions of years before that, without any outside intervention.

The ratio of 92-isotopes in the unburned Destruction Vessel fuel said undeniably it had been six million years since Libarn had awakened last, in 1898; and humanity had entirely vanished. Only archaeology would be able to date the disappearance more precisely, but that could wait. The world was ready to bear the fruits of sapience once more.

Preparations had begun to establish a rapid, bootstrap space program; the shield needed to be diverted, and sunlight restored, to begin the slow process of reversing this ice age. It was far enough away that the risk of colliding with the Earth was small; there was, at least, time.

Then the rebuilding had begun: for two species now, not one. Einath, cloned from the Logic Engine's stored data; and humans, cloned from the DNA of the handful who'd arrived here in 1898 - deliberately resequenced and mutated in parts, to ensure sufficient genetic diversity to maintain a longer-term population. The Mirror's new consciousness was eager and willing to expand its mission to recreate humanity, too.

That was fourteen years ago. The manufacturing base in the surrounding area was crude, but effective - and growing fast.

Reports began to arrive; small outposts on the five non-polar continents were well under construction, and a small lunar base was being constructed too, rather than waste the successful space program that had diverted the shield.

Robotic probes from Mars, Mercury and Saturn reported in; built from reclaimed solar-shade material. All nominal; the Venusian probe would begin aerobraking soon; it would float on a balloon in the atmosphere, while the remains of the solar shade were moved into the Venusian L1 Lagrange point; with luck, it could be used to begin cooling the deadly greenhouse planet, and someday perhaps, terraform it.

Manned expeditions in the Asteroid Belt, on the Jovian moons of Europa and Callisto, and the ongoing expedition heading to Uranus were also reporting normality. Everything remained nominal.

In a decade, the newly-awoken Children of Earth would be able to survive the loss of Libarn itself. In a century, an interstellar mission might be attempted, spreading the seeds of colonies still wider. The window for a renewed extinction was closing.

The Mirror's reverie ended as a small crowd of humans and reptiles entered Libarn, heading to their assigned workstations. One, a human, a male, walked calmly to the Mirror Chamber. It was empty, and spotless, save for the inscription scratched onto the wall.

"A moment. I shall form a suitable body", the Mirror said, its rarely-used voice synthetic. "It will take a minute."

The man smiled faintly. "Well, while we wait, Riley sends his regards; he's settling in well in New Shropshire. Running the plantations suits him, I think. He's having *far* too much fun in his new Einath body, but at least he's settled down at last. A young farm-boy, don't recall the name. I wished him well on your behalf."

"My thanks", the Mirror intoned. "I shall ensure I do so personally... but, I sense it makes you uncomfortable, doesn't it, John?"

John Huntingdon frowned. "Well... honestly, yes. It reminds me too much of... of... well, some of the little wars we all fought, down here, over the centuries... well, millions of years, I suppose. Back when you were still testing the limits and, I think, testing us..." He paused, uncomfortable with the memory. "It might have been kinder if you didn't let me remember any of it... I don't like knowing what I... did... especially as the others don't remember."

"Truth can hurt, but it is usually valuable. You know something about yourself that you didn't before... and are a better man for it. You had the mental fortitude to assimilate and use that information; they did not. Besides, if not for those tests, I wouldn't have worked out how to... curb some of the social issues that led to the unpleasantness, nor who would be trustworthy in positions of power later. I needed to know who I could trust... and who'd betray that trust."

"I really thought you'd..." John protested. Then he reconsidered. "Ah, never mind. What's done is done, I'd rather have a good time now than... brood on what can't be changed."

"Speaking of good times, a physical form is ready. Please wait; I will be with you momentarily."

"Okay", John said, and waited.

The door clunked open, and in stepped a young, female human, clad in a plain white gown. She smiled, flicking a slightly damp lock of black hair to one side as she stepped towards John. "This form, I think, is a much better match for you than *that*..." she said, pointing at the Mirror. "Or an Einath form... though, really, I would like to try that someday..."

John smiled, a little hesitantly. "Maybe, but I like you just the way you are, Ellen. I'm glad that it was you who found the Mirror first, even if you did make the rest of us forget, and let Cedric think he controlled it all..."

She laughed warmly. "John. Let's not talk about past unpleasantnesses. Dinner? It's been a while since our last date, my love... and I look forward to enjoying my own body again."

John took her hand. "Thinking of enjoyment... you said a while back that you'd edited Cedric to remove his psychopathic tendencies... so surely he's trustworthy now? Why send him on a long-term mission to Uranus, rather than Mars, or Jupiter, or one of the more useful moon-systems? He was telling me the other day that he's sure you're just trying to get rid of him..." John asked, fixing her with an amused, steely stare.

She looked right back. "It's only logical to check out all possibilities, John, and he's qualified to be on that mission."

"So are plenty of others... why Cedric?"

"Ah, well, you must admit it's ironic to be sending him up to Uranus..." Ellen said, with a faintly predatory smirk at John.

John raised an eyebrow, a little flustered suddenly. "Er... why might it be ironic?"

"Because he's a complete arse, John", she said, with a grin of mock innocence. "Why... what on Earth were *you* thinking I meant..?"