The Altered Revenge

Chapter 1

PART ONE: THE ALTERED REMAINS

Today, we face hardship unlike any we have ever known. Oil is scarce, our food supply is shrinking, and we are burdened with crippling overpopulation. I only ask you do one simple thing: Do not fear. Do not fear the future. Do not fear our enemies overseas. Do not fear for your loved ones. We are Americans. We will survive, together.

-Sandra Barkley, 51st President of the United States of America, December 9th, 2065 CE

EVE ORTEGA'S STOMACH grumbled as she sat in the bushes under an illuminated window. She was expecting the signal any second now. Any second.

Absently rubbing her palms together, Eve tried to tune out the sound of countless ships flying overhead. Even this late at night, Earth was a busy place. Tonight, if things went smoothly, no one would ever know Eve had been on the planet. The last year of her life had been building up to this.

The sun had been noticeably bright that day. Even on the desert world of Thirst, where a raincloud had never touched the sky, it was hotter than usual. Hotter, than Eve thought, was scientifically possible.

Children and the elderly alike huddled in the shade of the numerous single-story sandstone buildings clustered under the sun, wiping sweat away with dusty forearms and dry, cracked palms. Men and women carrying out their daily tasks walked hunched under the oppressive heat, their many layers of skin-shielding clothing trapping hot air against their backs.

Eve sat against the shaded side of the house she shared with her father. Although sweat poured down her face, she was otherwise occupied. Something strange had been happening to her. Something dangerous.

If Eve concentrated hard enough, she could make herself change. It was hardly noticeable at first; a few freckles would disappear from her arm if she looked at them for a few minutes, her brown irises would flash to blue and then instantly return to normal, and the ends of her long, black hair would turn shades of red or blond.

Initially, Eve had thought she was hallucinating from the relentless heat, but then her father had noticed it, too. Eve had been looking at an old photograph of her mother hung on the wall over the solitary chair in the house, focusing on her wild red hair. Eve's father, Jack, had stepped in from a day at the glassworks and found every single hair on her head had turned the exact same shade of red as her mother's.

"Honey," he had whispered, his eyes widening. "You'reyou're special. You're just like her."

It was a chilly night on Earth, and Eve tried not to notice. She was still getting used to it, the cold. Sometimes, she felt like the heat of Thirst's sun had followed her and lived under her skin, a constant companion which never let a cool gust of air feel quite right.

She looked up and silently marveled at the giant Space-Scrapers looming above her. Piercing the atmosphere itself, they looked like giant needles forcefully inserted into the blue planet by some forgotten colossus.

Eve sat near the base of one of the tallest towers in sight, owned by the man she was here to rob.

After he discovered Eve's secret, Jack proudly (but somehow also solemnly) explained to Eve that her mother had been Altered (or Remnant, as they were called these days), possessing the ability to change her appearance at will. Her mother had been an infiltration agent in the war, stealing New Human Sovereignty intelligence, sabotaging their war machines, and, on occasion, assassinating high priority targets.

Eve's father had met his wife while she was scouting a Normal military camp for information. Posing as a drafted male soldier, she had met Jack at the camp, where he was posted as a soldier drafted in the galaxy-spanning war.

They quickly became friends, and Eve's mother grew to love him. Even after she had located the information she was after, Eve's mother stayed for a while, reluctant to leave Jack behind. He was kind, caring, and opposed to the war, not to mention handsome at the time.

Late one night, Eve's mother had revealed her true appearance to Jack. After a short but heated debate, they left the camp and quickly got off-world, headed for friendly Coalition territory.

They married shortly after escaping and relocated to Thirst, where, they agreed, they would be safe even if the Coalition were to lose the war.

One year after Eve was born, her mother was called on to carry out another infiltration. She never returned. Shortly after, the last Altered-allied planets fell under the advance of Sovereignty forces.

Jack had raised Eve alone, making glass from Thirst's plentiful sand to put food on the table. He told Eve fantastical stories about different worlds he'd seen, about her mother, about the way things used to be. He cared for Eve, and Eve was grateful for him. Jack urged her to keep pushing her abilities' limits, to make use of them in some way as her mother had.

"But once you leave, and you will," he had said, his hands folded on the dinner table, "make sure to come home from your adventures occasionally, to visit your old father."

Eve had happily made that promise and proceeded to focus on her abilities. Soon she could change the shape of her nose at will, then her iris color, then her cheekbones. Eve came to the realization that she could eventually take the appearance of anyone she desired, and for the first time in her life, she thought she might be able to find a way off Thirst on her own terms.

But on that sweltering day with the sun high and bright in the sky, a star fell, and everything changed.