Cabinet Room, Australian Parliament House, Canberra
The Cabinet is the focal point of the decision-making process of government. It is composed of either the full Ministry, or a specified group of Ministers selected by the Prime Minister. Australian Parliament House website aph.gov.au
Alice Martis, an independent Senator for New South Wales, stood up in front of most of the Senators from the upper house and Members of the Lower House, gathered on a ‘day off’ from parliament.
“You are all here because you have agreed to hold the following information confidential until any of the attached legislation is brought before the Senate or House or sixty days has passed. You are also all agreeing to support a contempt of parliament motion against anyone who breaks this agreement. Is anyone declining these conditions?”
“Those agreeing, say ‘aye’. Those disagreeing say ‘no’. OK, let’s continue. As most of you are aware, there is a new department set up in the AFP called the Paranormal Group. This was done because they found some real paranormals in Australia. The outcome of all this is that these groups will start to come out in public. Each of these groups have a central body that helps to regulate themselves. The first is the Australian Council of Shifters, who cover those humans with the ability to shift into and out of an animal form. Any of you who wish to discuss this from a ‘good or evil’ viewpoint are welcome to attend the special session on ethics at 3pm this afternoon.
“As soon as the AFP became aware of this, they activated their internal procedures - only a bureaucracy would have procedures for finding paranormals, right? After this revelation, a number of projects were initiated, one of which was a review of all federal laws to identify any laws that would either disadvantage or advantage shifters. This was done by the Joint Committee on Law Enforcement, which I am on. Some thirty odd spots across twenty odd items of legislation have been identified as needing modification. All but three of these changes are trivial changes.
“What we intend to do after this demonstration is go through all of the changes and see if we can get at least a majority of support for them. Once we have that agreement, we can begin the process of informing the States and Territories so they can do the same. Questions?”
“You’ve got to be kidding me, this is got to be some kind of joke.”
Alice smiled and said, “I had a similar reaction when I was told but using more swear words.” Looking at the Fernando Gomes, the Attorney General, she asked, “Did you want to deal with the demonstration, Fernando?”
He nodded and moved to the lectern. Alice sat down.
Fernando said, “We have three shifters who have volunteered to be here today. I want to remind you that they are volunteers. Make them uncomfortable and they will leave. One is female, two are male and I expect all of you to behave in a manor in line with your position.” He nodded towards one of the ushers and they opened a door and three people came in. “I’ll hand over to Alexa, who is a constable with the AFP, to give a bit of a briefing and then we can start.”
“Good morning, my name is Alexa and I am an Australian who shifts. My shift-animal is a wedge-tailed eagle. Let me give you a brief introduction to the world of shifters, we can take some questions and then, onto the fun part.”
---***---
Alexa looked across to Fernando, who nodded. “We’ll have to wrap up the question-and-answer session at this point. I understand that there will be other opportunities today for you to talk to us one-on-one. We’ll call up Brian first.”
Brian stood up and moved to near Alexa. “Brian, could you help me with the modesty screen?”
They grabbed a change cubicle like you would see at a local market from against the wall and moved it to next to the lectern. This consisted of an aluminium frame standing upright with curtains hanging on all four sides.
“We need up to six volunteers to assist. This needs to include someone who is not male and feels comfortable seeing a female naked and one who is not female and feels comfortable seeing a male naked.”
Alexa opened the back curtain on the cubical, so now only three sides were covered.
“Please check the cubical out and ensure there are no smoke and mirrors. Right, if we can have the five of you in an arc around the front of the cubical and the volunteer to see Brian’s naked butt at the rear, Brian can go into the cubicle, undress, and shift. Brian is a koala-shifter.”
Once Brian had shifted, Alexa went into the cubicle and said, “Brian, may I pick you up?” He nodded, so she picked him up, whispering, “You pee on me, and I will take you for a flight and drop you, cuz.”
She said “If any of you want to confirm there is nothing in the cubical, please do. If any of you want to touch Brian, remember that you need to ask permission, just like you would with any other person before you touch them.”
She acted as guard, keeping the politicians from overstepping propriety. She then put Brian on the table at the centre of the room and returned to the lectern. She moved Brian’s clothes from the base of the cubicle to one of the chairs nearby.
“Next, we have Morin. Morin is a taipan-shifter, specifically a coastal taipan. Just as with Brian, Morin will remain completely in control after he shifts. Could we have a different couple of people to check the cubicle? Everything fine? Places please. Morin, could you shift for us?”
This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.
Morin walked into the cubicle, closed the front curtain, undressed, and then shifted to a large, taipan snake.
Alexa opened the front curtain and went into the cubicle, asking, “Morin, can I pick you up?” He nodded, so she extended her arm and he wound himself onto her.
She said “If any of you want to confirm there is nothing in the cubical, please do. If any of you want to touch Morin, remember that you need to ask permission, just like you would with any other person before you touch them.”
Again, she acted as guard. Though there seemed to be less people interested in touching one of the most venomous snakes in Australia and they were all a bit more cautious. After a few minutes she put Morin on the other end of the table from Brian.
Taipans and koalas don’t get on in the wild, so she didn’t want to do anything to spark something off.
She went back to the cubicle and moved Morin’s clothing to another chair.
She went to get into the cubical when she noted the same man from before was still there. It really didn’t matter to her, but her Spidey-Sense was going off. Using her enhanced sight, she looked over the man and noticed something strange. there wasn’t an arm in his left-hand coat sleeve. Focusing, she noticed a camera was just visible through the gap in the front of his coat, held by the missing hand.
Turning to the Attorney General, she said, “Sir, could I get you to take over the microphone while I shift?”
Once he was close enough, she told him what Braydon White was doing with his camera.
He blinked and said, “Are you sure?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Are you concerned that he would be aiming to destroy evidence if his phone is not seized now?”
“Yes, sir.”
“OK, please seize it.”
Into the microphone she said, “As I said earlier, I’m a wedge-tailed eagle-shifter,”
She gave Fernando the microphone and went across to the changing room.
As she passed Braydon, she flipped his coat away, exposing his hand with the camera in it. She grabbed his hand before he could react and lifted it up, compete with camera.
Braydon White tried to pull the camera out of Alexa’s hand. It looked quite comical to have a man who was taller than Alexa, and significantly heavier, basically swinging from Alexa’s outstretched arm. Some of the people present realised that Alexa had to be significantly stronger than she appeared. Plus, there had to be something else going on to stop Braydon from being able to tip Alexa over.
Once everyone had seen what was in his hand, she pulled the camera out of his hand. Braydon White had tried to resist, but her superior strength easily overpowered him.
Fernando signalled for some of the ushers to assist, while Braydon was demanding that she unhand him.
Holding the camera up in one hand, she went to her duffle and pulled out an evidence bag, put the camera in, sealed and signed it. Through the transparent evidence bag, she quickly scanned through the recent photos and videos.
She walked back towards Braydon, who was still demanding the return of the camera.
“Sir, I am arresting you for the illegal recording of people in a public place where they have a reasonable expectation of privacy. Anything that you say may be used in evidence against you.”
“Mr Gomes? There are multiple images and videos on here, beyond just what has occurred in here today. I need to take Senator White for processing.”
“Can we get you to shift before you go?”
Alexa did an imaginary face-palm, as she thought for a moment and then said, with her ‘customer service’ smile in place, “Certainly, sir. Just a moment.”
She went across to the doors of the room, went outside, signalled to some of the ACT Police on duty, waited for them to come, and ushered them in.
“I will need your help for a while, do you need to call for replacements?”
“Just need to let them know, ma’am.”
“OK. Let them know that you are assisting Constable Alexa Smirn with a sensitive issue that the AG has been made aware of.”
One of them radioed the situation in.
“What you are about to see, you cannot talk about to anyone until the information is made public. Do you understand?”
When they agreed she continued, “You heard about the establishment of the AFP’s Paranormal Group?”
Again, they agreed.
“The koala and snake on the table are shifters, do not shoot them, OK? You are here to assist me in arresting Senator Braydon White. The Attorney General requires me to do something before we can leave, so I need you to maintain custody of the evidence.” She held up the bag with the camera in it. “Hello?” She waved the bag in front of them as they were concentrated on the large snake on the table in the centre of the room.
She got one of them to hold up their ID, hold the bag and she took a photo on her phone.
“There is the accused, keep an eye on him and keep the evidence out of his hands. OK?”
They snapped out of their shock, although their eyes were still a little unfocused, and started doing their job.
“Sorry, sir. I’ll do the demonstration now. Can I have a non-male as a watcher, please?”
“I’ll do it.” Adiratna Setiawan, one of the Greens Party House of Representative members. She came up and took the position so she could confirm there were no tricks.
“Once I shift and hop out of the cubicle, you’ll need to give me a lot of room so I can fly onto the table.”
Adiratna nodded.
Alexa went into the cubicle and removed her clothes. She shifted and hopped out of the cubicle. She could feel the excitement rolling off of Adiratna.
Once she spread her wings, Adiratna remembered her role and moved back.
Because of the tight conditions, Alexa was unable to take off with her normal grace but did successfully move herself to the table in a sort-of hop-glide.
After a minute, Fernando remembered his role and played guard as people came up and touched Alexa. After a few minutes, he thanked the shifters for their demonstration.
Alexa jumped off the table and glide-hopped back to the cubicle. She shifted back into her human form, got dressed and went across to the table. Looking at the pair of shifters, she signalled Morin to slither over into her arms. he wrapped himself around her arm and she said, “Sorry, should have realised that it was going to be a bit cold for you. Maybe I’ll organise a heated rock for you next time?”
Alexa laughed at his offended look.
She took him over to the cubicle and transferred his clothes into it. She gave Adiratna a look, raising her eyebrows. Adiratna blushed and moved away from her position of watching the back of the cubicle.
Alexa waited for Morin to exit the cubicle then repeated the exercise for Brian.
Turning to Fernando, Alexa said, “Sir, may I be excused to deal with this issue? I will return as soon as I can.”
“Yes, thank you Alexa. I have to say, I have been very impressed with your professionalism today.”
“Thank you, sir.”
Alexa left with the two police officers and Senator White.
In the police car, White made a number of threats and attempts to bribe Alexa. Alexa had her laptop out, completing the paperwork for the arrest. She simply ignored White, but did add attempting to pervert the course of justice and attempting to bribe a federal officer in the course of their duties to the charges.
Two hours later, she left the ACT Police Station, thanking the two officers that had assisted her. They went with her to a nearby coffee shop, where she reinforced that they were not free to talk about the shifters until the parliament made it official and bought them a cup of their favoured beverage. She shuddered at the Chai Latte - how could anyone drink that much sugar? She answered some of their questions, confirmed that they would ensure the forensic people were aware that the last two videos on the camera were currently national secrets and had better not end up on the ‘Net. She gave them her contact details and left to return to Parliament House.
Well, thoughts? Comments? Criticisms? There will certainly be a second book in the series, and I have notes for a couple more after that.
