Changelings

Ronan was only too happy to oblige, and that night he confided in Murel that at least they didn't have to worry about the professor suspecting their own shape-shifting abilities since she didn't believe it ever happened to humans.

"She was really scornful about it," he said.

"It could be just an act," Murel said.

"Well, if it is, she did a good one," he answered. "She thinks it only happens to what she calls lesser beasts. She's not so bad, really. I know she doesn't seem to like you anymore, but she was decent to me. It was boring, but when I came right out and asked her, she gave me a straight answer right away."

"Don't trust her," Murel said. "You're not as good at figuring people out as you think."

"Well, neither are you. You always think you're cleverer than I am, and you're just jealous because I got picked instead of you."

"I'm not either. I certainly don't want to spend all of my free time slaving away for a teacher I don't even like. And you do realize, don't you, that she had promised before she came that Rory could be her assistant, then gave the job to you?"

"Not my fault. Rory isn't that keen on the subject anyway, and I am."

"Yeah, now that she's chosen you as her favorite."

"Look, let's not fight about this, okay? I'm finding out stuff we need to find out, and that's the only reason I'm doing it. It's for both of us, and Da too. I wish we'd hear from him soon."

"Me too. Marmie said Johnny had been delayed on Petaybee but he's due back in a couple of days. He ought to be bringing us an answer then."

Professor Mabo was unusually nice to everyone in class the next day, and when she met Ronan in the lab, she wore a rueful smile. "My boy, I realize I was unfair to you yesterday. You had every right to ask the very intelligent questions you asked, and I-what is the expression?-blew you off. One of the reasons I chose you as my assistant is that I noticed you displayed an interest in these mutant shape-shifting or bimorphic life forms. I had a headache yesterday and was in pain, and therefore in an unreceptive mood."

Ronan wondered if she had a headache every day then, since she hadn't seemed any more grumpy yesterday than every time he'd seen her since she arrived. Even if she was nice to him, she was always cutting to someone-usually Rory, although lately she'd been picking on Murel too.

"As a matter of fact, your questions anticipated our experiments for today. I was vague on the subject of the shape-shifters, or bi-morphs as we call them. Today we will be working with one."

"Live?" he asked.

"Certainly. I could not very well expect it to alter its shape if it is already dead."

Ronan perked up. "What is it, then?"

"A Honokuan sea turtle is its common name. Or one of them."

"What other names does it have?" Ronan asked. Did she mean scientific names or something like Seymour the Sea Turtle? He was afraid to ask. Although Dr. Mabo seemed to be in what, for her, passed for a talkative and friendly mood, she definitely believed there was such a thing as a stupid question.

However, she continued explaining. "That is what we shall discover today," she said. "I have it on good authority that this creature is able to alter its shape into quite another species altogether. Once we properly stimulate it to perform its metamorphosis, then we will know what other names would best describe it."

"Like what?"

"For instance, if we discover that the turtle turns itself into one species of-oh, bear, for instance, we would naturally name it 'chelonia mydas trans ursidae Mabo,' to indicate me as the first to identify it."

Ronan thought about that for a moment. That would make him and Murel what? Pinnipedia; Phocidae Sheperdus trans homo sapiens Shongili? Since Da was a scientist too and the first selkie on Petaybee, so the first to "discover" their species. Whatever. Just so they never had to be named after Dr. Mabo. "What if it just stays a turtle?" he asked before he could stop himself.

She snorted a snort that clearly accused him of lacking the proper attitude.

"Well, where is it?" he asked.

She pointed to a long metal tank he had mistaken for a covered sink before. He wondered why the tank wasn't glass if she wanted to observe the creature. "Please fetch the turtle for me. You will have to open the front of the tank by sliding the panel upward and encouraging the creature to emerge. Careful, it is rather large and heavy, although it is relatively young. A fully mature adult may weigh as much as 115 kilograms, or 253 pounds, but this one only weighs roughly eleven kilograms, or about twenty-five pounds. A sturdy lad like you should have no problem managing that much. Still, it has a nasty beak. If it bites you, nothing will make it let go short of death."

Ronan wanted to ask if she meant the death of the turtle or his own death but figured he shouldn't push his luck. Instead he said, "I thought they just pulled back into their shells when they're scared. I never heard of attack turtles before."

"These turtles do not have the ability to retreat into their shells," she told him.