Jack started awake at Sally's light cry. He sat up swiftly, flinging back the blanket. Sally was bending over staring in the mirror above the wash basin. He went over to stand behind her, taking her shoulders in his hands.
"It's all right, Sally, you're all right.", he said inanely. Sally stared at her reflection, mesmerized.
"What happened to me? Who is that?", she asked. "That's not me, Jack, that's not Sally! I've changed. I've mutated! I'm not Sally anymore!", she cried.
"Sally..", Jack began but she wasn't listening. Her face tightened.
"I asked Hawk once why none of the mutants had human names. You know what he said? He said when you changed you took a different name and moved on or you went mad. I've changed. I'm not Sally anymore. I need a new name. Calli. Yes, that's a good name, I think. I read somewhere she was a warrior or something, a strong being. I like that. I want to be Calli."
Jack shook her slightly. "You're still Sally, you just look different. Look at me, love, come on, look at me. You're not the only one who's changed, but I'm still Jack, aren't I?" Sally reluctantly looked away from the mirror. She looked at Jack. And stared. He was the same, but different. She slowly rose and studied his nude form.
"You're still Jack alright. You look bigger, but you're still Jack. Jack, I'm totally different. Look, I'm at least 2 inches shorter, and smaller, and I look different. I'm not Sally now, I'm Calli. Oh, Jack, can you still want me like this?", she asked anxiously.
"Honey, I don't care what you call yourself. I told you I would always want you, and I do. Can't you tell?" She let her gaze slide down his form. Her lips lifted in a slight smile.
"Yes, I see." She ran her hands along his chest, feeling the strong muscles, down his waist.
He gathered her into his arms. "I think,", he said huskily, "If you feel up to it, we should try out these new bodies, don't you?" She laughed quietly with relief.
"Try out our new bodies, hmm? What did you have in mind? Knives or swords?", she teased. Jack nuzzled her neck.
"I had something a little more personal in mind.", he replied, pulling her closer.
"Oh, I feel up to it all right, and it sure looks like you're up to it. That sounds like a wonderful idea.", she agreed, reaching up to pull his head down to hers.
Calli searched the chest for something she could wear while Jack dressed in his seaman's garb. Finally she chose a loose pant and top that at least didn't want to fall off her smaller frame. She sighed with annoyance. She was going to have to alter all her clothing and armor. Even her feet were smaller! The boot maker would be glad to make her new ones, she was sure. She sighed, seeing the caps adding up from this.
Jack went out onto deck with Calli behind him. The men stopped working to stare at her. Jack motioned Mike over. "Have the crew join us in the mess hall.", he said. "Get Fred from the control room too. He can put it on auto for now." Mike glanced at the woman covertly.
"Yes, sir.", he said and went off.
Jack and Calli went to the mess hall where Carl had nearly finished preparing breakfast. Some of the men were already there. He sat Calli down at the table and waited for the rest of the crew, ignoring the men's wondering glances. Finally all were assembled.
Jack surveyed his crew, fine men all. He motioned toward Calli.
"As you can see,", he began. "She has undergone more drastic changes than we have. What you don't know is that she has undergone changes before due to different mutagenic exposures so I don't think we have to worry about it happening to any of us. Now, she has this belief that when you change, you lose your old self. Hold on..", he raised his hand as Fred started to say something. "Just let me finish. We don't have to hold to this belief but we are going to honor hers. She believes when you lose your old self you begin anew, and when you do you choose a new name. The name she has chosen is Calli. From now on she will be known as Calli." He looked at Calli. "Will that be Calli Weston?", he asked her.
She shook her head. "No, no surname until I choose to take one. Just Calli. One name, like the mutants."
"Okay, just Calli." He looked around at his men. "Does anyone have anything they want to say?"
Aaron spoke up. "I think you look fine, Calli, and if that's what you want to be called it's all right with me." There was a general murmur of agreement.
Calli smiled. "Thanks, guys.", she said. "Now if you don't mind I think we should eat. I'm starving."
Jack said, "Aaron, after breakfast I want to see you in my office. Fred, you can take your breakfast to the control room and resume duties there. I know you've been up all night so Bill can take over as soon as he's done eating. Just one more thing. I managed to get my rad exposure to 18 last night but it's at zero this morning. I think Fred was right in assuming we use it now. That doesn't mean we don't have to watch our exposure so don't get carried away. But we might want to get some and monitor it until we figure out what the correct dosage is. Does anyone have any questions?" No one did. "All right then, men, you're dismissed."
Jack and Aaron had breakfast with Calli. They kept the conversation light and avoided the subject of their mutations. After breakfast Calli went out on deck to stretch and exercise while Jack and Aaron retired to his cabin to discuss business.
Jack was brooding over Calli. "I don't know about this name business, Aaron. What do you make of it?", he asked.
"Well, I think she's trying to deal with it, Jack. It's been pretty traumatic for her, changing like that. You know how much she fears she might turn into something less, well, human."
"I know, I know, I just don't know if this is healthy. Is she dealing with it? Or trying to deny what's happened? I don't know how to help her, Aaron."
"You're doing all right, Jack. You accept her. We accept her. That's what she really needs, to feel accepted. I don't think she's giving up her old life. Look at the name she's chosen. It's nearly identical to her former name. She'll be okay. Are you going to be okay?", Aaron asked. Jack paused, looking at his friend.
"You know", he said slowly. "I find these changes, well, exciting I guess. If she would just marry me! She hasn't said she won't, but she hasn't said she will either. Why do you think she won't?"
Aaron considered. "I think she's waiting. She wants to make sure you'll never reject her, no matter what. If Calli marries you, that's it for her. Once she makes a commitment it's for life, whatever that commitment is. She can walk away and leave you now if that's what she needs to do but once she marries you she can't do that. Make sure you can make that same commitment. She could be a powerful enemy." Jack looked at him, startled. She would be a powerful enemy indeed.
Calli leaned on the rail watching the land appear above the horizon. She was eager to set foot on solid ground again. She turned to smile at Jack who was at the controls.
"Are you glad to be home?", she asked. He grinned.
"Sure, I like coming back. Really though I think the Tradewind is my home." Calli nodded. She understood that.
"You'll have a tale for them this time.", she said. "Your men are very good, aren't they? They not only defended the Tradewind they took the Sea Grate. Why's it called the Sea Grate, anyway? What is that?"
"Calli", Jack said seriously. "Taking the Sea Grate was way too easy. They were new to pirating, they had no idea what they were doing or getting into. Most seasoned pirates aren't going to be that easy to defeat. I hope we don't run into any of those. You're right, my men have had a few run-ins and are more experienced than when we started. Still I don't want to fight if we can help it. You don't know what a sea grate is?"
"Oh,", Calli said. "Well they're still very good. I've seen plenty of fighters you know. So what is a sea grate? I haven't heard of that."
"It's a mutant form of giant octopus. The thing can get 200 feet long and can sink a ship. It wraps its tentacles around it and just pulls it down. Fortunately they're pretty calm even if they are curious. They seem to like to check out ships but they don't usually attack. I think they just do it in defense if someone is stupid enough to try to hurt one. We spot at least one on almost every trip." Calli turned back to watch the land approach.
"That's different. Most mutants were designed to be savage beasts of war." Jack glanced at her. She was probably right about that.
The Tradewind docked later that evening at the Baton Rouge harbor. Jack made sure the ships were secure and hired guards to watch them before allowing his crew to disembark to go home to their families. They would be in dock for a week while the Tradewind was unloaded, trading and sales completed, and any repairs taken care of.
Jack would have to make arrangements with the shipyard to take up the Sea Grate and manage the repairs. It wasn't going to be easy to hire a crew and set up a new trade route but he had time. The repairs would take several weeks, perhaps even months.
Jack's sister came down to the docks to see how he was doing and find out when he could visit with his parents. Jack had gone into the trading post when she came aboard looking for him. She found Calli instead, working on books in Jack's cabin.
"Hey, who are you?", the woman asked. Calli looked up from the ledgers.
"Hey.", she greeted the strange blonde woman. "I'm Calli. Can I ask who you are?"
"Well, Calli, what are you doing in my brother's cabin looking at his ledgers? I don't recall his ever mentioning you to me."
"Oh, you must be Lisa. Jack's told me about you. Please, have a seat, it's nice to meet you. I'm just going over some of the ledgers for Jack. Didn't he tell you I bought into the Tradewind?"
Lisa frowned. "He did tell us that some woman bought shares but I thought he said her name was Sally, and she had red hair. That doesn't seem to be you."
"Ah, well, things change, you know?", Calli said. "I've taken Sally's place. She's gone." Lisa raised an eyebrow.
"That doesn't sound like Jack to replace her like that. He isn't that fickle."
Just then Jack appeared in the doorway. "Lisa, Hey, it's good to see you.", he said, hugging the blonde. "I see you've met my future wife. You two should get along pretty well, don't you think?", he asked hopefully. The women eyed each other dubiously. That didn't seem very likely.
"Listen, Jack, Mom wants to know when you're coming around to see her. She knows you're busy but you'll only be in port a few more days.", Lisa said.
"Tell her we'll be around tomorrow night, okay? I've got to finish up some business and make sure the Tradewind is going to be loaded on time. I'm sure she's anxious to meet Calli!", he said, putting his arm around the small woman.
Yeah, Calli thought, she bet she was.