The Lady Invisible 1

Chapter 1: Opening the Door to a New Life



    Suzanne Kerguelen was probably not your typical Kubla Con goer, if there was such a thing. While many veteran conventioneers went with tried-and-true genre such as Star Wars or Trek, manga or mythology, and did so year after year, convention after convention, and took what they did seriously, she throve on variety, and did so with a sense of humor. The first year she went to the convention she wore a Darth Vader costume that was normal in every way except color - pink instead of black! Needless to say, she drew a lot of attention, and went through plenty of photographers' card capacity. Another year she parodied Sister Boom Boom, and two years ago she and her then boyfriend had gone as 'Mr and Mrs Yoda,' nevermind that under the Old Republic Jedi were discouraged from marrying or otherwise forming emotional bonds with other individuals.

    After attending several Kubla Cons without interuption, Suzanne was forced to skip the fourteenth convention; as if to make up for the omission she decided to go both days this year instead of Saturday only as she had done in the past. With this year's emphasis on costuming she decided she would be a lady pirate (can one be both a lady and a pirate, or a gentleman and a pirate, for that matter?) on Friday and the Invisible Woman (the main character of a 1940s movie) on Saturday.

    While Suzanne did not consider herself foremost a seamstress, she usually did her own costuming, this year would be no different. She also did costumes for others, usually for Halloween but also for the Kubla Con. This year her sister Marlee would be joining her on Saturday, wearing a 'costume' of balloons attached to a harness; the idea of course was that she would float up into the air if she was just a little bit lighter!

    Suzanne's costumes were mostly G-rated, but she was not above indulging in a bit of sly naughtiness. One year she went to the Con in a costume with (well covered) boobs so huge she could barely see over them, and had to turn sideways to get through some of the doorways. Even then it would be a tight fit. The costume proved so popular the Orlando Convention Center's board of directors asked her if she would allow one of her photos to be used in a breast cancer awareness campaign. With a history of the disease in her family, Suzanne didn't take long to say yes.



    Suzanne and three friends arrived at the Xanadu Center Friday afternoon, all were costumed as pirates as she was. While one friend had done himself up as something of a Captain Morgan look-a-like, the rest took a somewhat less elaborate and more generic approach to cosplaying. With her raven black hair Suzanne soon found herself being asked if she was there as a female Blackbeard or perhaps his wife. Neither she nor any of her friends had thought that way before, but it didn't take them long to get caught up in the spirit of things.

    "Yes, I'm Mrs Blackbeard" she jested to a Harry Potter and Hermoine Granger duo. "Now, where can I get photographed wearing one of those hats with tiny cannons on it?"

    "Try them" the Hermoine said, pointing to a vendor's booth nearby that had hung up a large Jolly Roger flag above their tables, and which also had on display a large stuffed penguin wearing a cape, instead of a large stuffed parrot as might have been expected.

    "If anyone here has that kind of hat, they will probably be the ones!"

    "Yes, milady, we do indeed have that hat" a red-haired pirate with a stubble beard told Suzanne and her friends. "Would you like to try it on and look yourselves over first?"

    "Yes, please."

    It didn't take one of his female cohorts long to fetch the requested items, or much longer for their customers to get decked out in their truly fierce-looking pirate headgear. The photo session itself was a fun occasion for all involved. Smoke tablets were inserted into cannon and pistols, cutlasses were held at the ready, and everyone put on their best buccaneer scowls. Everyone was both pleased and amused when they saw the photos, and everyone wanted their own copies. Much friendly banter ensued on who looked the most ferocious.

    "You looked especially ready to slice someone's head off" Karen, the other 'lady pirate' in the group said to Suzanne.

    "No, it was you!" Suzanne countered.

    "No, him!" the Captain Morgan dandy now put in.

    "No, her!"

    The debate finally ended in a draw, amid bouts of laughter.

   

    "So, what do you think of that red haired pirate? Don't you think he is kind of a hunk?" Barrie asked Suzanne after the four of them (sans pirate hats) had gotten back into their car to return to the nearby hotel where some of them were staying.

    Suzanne suppressed a giggle before answering "I thought he was kind of cute for a guy his age. Not too big or too muscle bound, no pot belly..."

    Pirate master navigator Ben Starling might have turned red had he heard Barrie and Suzanne's comments about him!



    Suzanne put on her costume before she and her sister left for the Kubla Con late Saturday morning. She wore a skirt suit and shoes that might not have looked out of place in the 1940s - or the twenty-ohs. To that she added opaque tan hose on her legs, and wrapped a scarf of the same color around her head, and tucked the bottom edge down the collar of her blouse. The fabric was thin enough she could see out with relatively little impairment, but thick enough so onlookers could make out no details of her face. Next, she pulled on a pair of form fitting white gloves, so her entire body was now hidden under fabric. She finished off her outfit with a wide brimmed hat of a style that might not have looked out of place in either era, but no wig; after all, she was supposed to be invisible, including her hair!

    Marlee spent part of the morning filling the balloons she would 'wear' from a rented helium tank and getting them ready to attach to her harness. Unlike her sister she was wearing ordinary clothes to the convention: boots, pants, a lightweight turtleneck. She then strapped on her harness and stuffed the balloons into the back of her minivan, she would only put them on upon arrival at the Xanadu Center and before signing in at the registration desk at the entrance.

    Thanks to Eric Winters coming on board as a major sponsor of this year's Kubla Con and putting up money for prizes for the winners of various costume contests, attendance both days had been greater than ever before; close to fifteen thousand were expected to come today. The Con was primarily devoted to science fiction and fantasy, and today, like yesterday, there seemed to be no limit to conventioneers' imaginations. Mermaids and pirates by the boatload, Jedi and Vulcans by the baker's dozen, historical figures and costumes inspired by animals both real and fictional were just a few examples. There were even multiples of people such as Tolkien, Roddenberry, and Disney; two of the former were having a friendly debate as to who was the 'real' Tolkien as the Kerguelen sisters walked in through the entrance and took their places in the sign-in line.

    "Would you like to sign up for a costume contest too?" asked a rather heavyset man who also towered about a full foot over Suzanne, who stood around 5'8" in her high heeled pumps. He also was improbably dressed as a ballerina, in a pink leotard with matching tutu and toe slippers. Suzanne almost fell over backwards at the sight, but Arthur Hall reached over in time to save her from further embarrassment.

    "Yes, I think I will" she now answered.

    "What is your costume meant to be?"

    "I'm the 'Invisible Woman'."

    "The Fantastic Four character?"

    "No, the Virginia Bruce movie."

    "When did it come out? I don't remember that one."

    "In the early 1940s."

    "Just a bit before my time. No wonder I don't remember it."

    "Well, it was a bit before my time too, but I like it anyway!"

    "Would you like to enter in the 'black and white' movie category then?"

    "Certainly."

    After filling out her entry form Suzanne handed it back to Arthur, who checked off some boxes before tearing off the stub and handing it back to the conventioneer.

    "Judging for your category will be at two o'clock in room..." he explained as he called her attention to the information on the back of her entry form.

    "Have a good day!" he finally said.

    "Thank you, I will!" Suzanne smiled broadly under her mask, though of course Arthur was no more able to see her face than anyone else.

    Marlee had signed up for a costume contest as well, judging for her category would be just after her sister's, in the same room. With nearly two hours to go, the sisters spent the time walking around the main hall and some of the side rooms. As Suzanne and her friends had been yesterday, they were amazed not only by the record turnout but by the incredible variety of costumes and themes as well. Besides the staples of cosplaying there were also oddities and rarities such as the Slag Brothers, the National Briefcase Drill Team, and someone costumed as a coffee droid. After taking part in their respective costume contests (results were to be announced later) they continued their walkabout, had a brief chat with a kangaroo, then struck up a conversation with a witch named Tiffany and her familiar, who wore a black cat costume. All four spent a few minutes trading stories of the convention, admiring each others' costumes and looking at a man dressed like a member of the cast of 'Cats,' and another dressed all in black, complete with raven mask.

    "That's Eric Winters" the witch said. "I even spoke with him for a minute a while ago. He said I had a good costume!"

    "I can't tell at all what you would look like without your makeup" Suzanne said.

    "You won't believe how hard it was for me to make myself even this ugly!" Tiffany told the sisters, she had some difficulty keeping herself from giggling.



    The Xanadu Event, when it came, caught Suzanne and Marlee as off guard as anyone. Suzanne later recalled a 'pop' while Marlee remembered a soft 'whoosh.' Everyone became quiet for a few moments, then the entire convention seemed to go berserk. In quick succession the sisters were nearly flattened by a minotaur, Attila the Hun, and a conventioneer who had turned into a pterodactyl before their very eyes. Suzanne was so stunned by the sudden turn of events she didn't notice her sister slowly rising toward the domed ceiling of the main hall. Marlee was equally stunned by the sudden chaos, so much so she didn't even think of screaming at first to get her sister's attention, By the time she did more fully realize her predicament it was too late, so great was the bedlam any conversation was all but impossible.

    Suzanne was just beginning to recover from the initial shock of the change, but before she could even look toward where her sister had been, her attention was diverted by a woman's horrified screaming.

    "Oh my God, my God! My face! My face! What happened to my face?!" Suzanne turned, and was again stunned by what she saw. Tiffany was now a real witch, a hideously ugly witch. Her skin color was a ghastly shade of green, her features were gnarly as if she were 120 years old instead of twenty or so, and her nose now had a large wart near its tip. She screamed again and Suzanne momentarily froze. With no further delay the witch mounted her broom and launched herself toward one of the exits, nearly hitting two Darth Vaders and a gargoyle in her haste to depart.

    Suzanne found temporary refuge in a side room, when the situation finally calmed down somewhat as most of the crowd made their way out through the exits, she ventured back out to search for her sister. The first sight she saw was two women whose antlers had become so tangled they could not separate themselves; a naga held a door open so they could at least get outside. Suzanne also heard the thudding footsteps of something heavy, and the distant sound of blaster and phaser fire, but she would no longer be deterred from her mission, even by the sirens she now was hearing.

    Navigation was somewhat difficult due to the extent of the destruction, but she soon made her way back to where she last remembered seeing her sister. Almost immediately she heard a familiar voice calling from overhead - far overhead. Suzanne looked up and was stunned to see Marlee up near the top of the Xanadu Center's great dome, suspended below several large balloons.

    "Marlee, are you alright?!" her sister shouted up to her.

    "No! I'm stuck! I can't get down!" Marlee then kicked with her legs, the way she barely bounced in her harness left Suzanne heeling vaguely troubled.

    "Can't you pop your balloons - ?"

    "I can't reach them! They're way over my head!"

    Suzanne backed up a few feet for a better look, and better understood her sister's situation. Marlee was suspended at least a hundred feet up in the air. The bottoms of the balloons were ten feet or more above her head. The balloons themselves, previously little larger than her head, were now as tall as she was and almost as wide as they were tall. In frustration Marlee again kicked with her legs and again Suzanne was vaguely disturbed at how the balloons holding her sister up jostled less than she thought they should have.

    "How do you feel?" Suzanne called up.

    "Weird. I kind of feel like a balloon myself, I feel so light..."

    "Is there any way we can help you?" a man's voice now asked. Suzanne turned and found herself face to face with what turned out to be a family of four Tusken Raiders. Father, mother, daughter, and son, both of whom seemed to be in their early teens.

    "My sister is stuck up there, and I can't figure out how to get her down!" Suzanne pointed upward as she spoke.

    The adult male Tusken, who identified himself as Jim, looked up to size up the situation for himself and after a few moments said "This may be what we need" and unshouldered what looked like a very well-worn rifle.

    "Will that work?" a somewhat skeptical Suzanne asked.

    "It does. I have already used it on some kind of flying monster that tried to carry off someone who suddenly shrank to the size of a two-year-old. I tried to scare it off, but I finally..had to kill it to stop it." Suzanne shuddered, and Jim himself clearly sounded like he did not enjoy killing a conventioneer who probably had no idea what they were doing.

    "Ma'am, I'm going to try to get you down with this..." he said with just a hint of drawl as he held up his weapon, both hands well away from the trigger. Unfortunately his mask sufficiently muffled his voice Marlee could not clearly understand what he had said.

    "What did he say?" she called down to her sister.

    "He is going to try to get you down by popping your balloons, one at a time."

    "Will that gun really work?"

    "He says it works better than it looks."

    "I hope so" Marlee still sounded somewhat doubtful, but her voice was already less skeptical than before.

    Jim now raised his rifle and took visual aim. Marlee's eyes opened opened wide and she clapped her hands over her mouth, but soon calmed herself down again.

    "Feeling nervous?" the Tusken called up.

    "Yes. I'm trying not to be, but I still can't help it."

    "I guess I can't blame you. At least we four know this is not Tatooine. I'll aim first for the balloon furthest from your head. Is that OK?"

    Marlee sucked in a breath, then signalled her approval. Jim raised his rifle to the ready, took careful aim, and pulled the trigger. A large orange balloon burst with a loud pop, but Marlee barely bounced in her harness, before the remaining balloons settled back into place at the top of the dome.

    "Do you want me to try shooting out another balloon?"

    "Yes, you may."

    Another surprisingly quiet rifle shot rang out, another balloon burst, and Marlee began a slow descent toward the floor, only to come to a stop when she was still thirty or so feet short of her goal.

    "Strange" the Tusken now said, before calling back up "Do you want me to shoot another balloon? That may be enough to get you down."

    "Yes! Please?"

    "No problem." Turning to his family and Suzanne he said "We need to be ready to catch her in case she drops suddenly. Can you do it?" One by one, Suzanne, Jim's wife Meryl, and their children Kelly and Matt declared themselves ready, and formed a circle under the still dangling Marlee.

    The third shot was indeed a charm, and Marlee slowly descended the rest of the way to the floor of the Xanadu Center's main hall. As soon as her feet touched down her sister and the adult Tuskens helped her out of her harness, then spent a few moments watching it and the remaining balloons rise up again. Suzanne then hugged her sister and got a shock - Marlee lifted off the ground as if she were no heavier than a balloon herself. Marlee realized it too, and asked "My God, what happened to me?!"

    "Marlee, are you alright?" her sister asked in alarm.

    "No...yes...I'm not sure. What exactly did happen?"

    Jim now spoke again. "We're not sure ourselves. We tried to change back into our normal clothes in one of the side rooms but as soon as we opened the door to leave it was 'blink' and we were back in costume."

    "You can't wear anything but your costumes?"

    "Something like that. We tried to take our masks off again just before we met you two but it was like trying to pull the sword from the stone..."



    Despite the continuing chaos outside the Xanadu Center and the early efforts by the authorities to bring the situation under control, Suzanne and Marlee had little difficulty getting to their car and then leaving the parking lot. On their way out of the building they realized more fully the magnitude of the event; literally thousands of people had been affected. Dragons, Orcs and Elves by the bakers' dozen, samurai and medieval knights, an incredible variety of Pokemon and furries. There was a sky-blue skinned female Twi'lek in a ballerina's outfit humming to herself, she actually seemed to revel in her change. There was a newlywed couple who appeared to have turned to stone in mid kiss, it was obvious they did not realize what had hit them. The variety of changes wrought by the Xanadu Effect, and peoples' reactions to their changes, was as stunning as the event itself. When what looked like a giant grape on a pair of legs came by and asked in a female voice if the sisters had seen someone in a 'Jackie Sparrow' costume, they decided the time had come to high tail it out of there.

    Despite her near total lack of mass (a Caitian in a TOS medical officer's uniform determined her weight had gone from 120 pounds to 120 ounces, but was otherwise still normal) Marlee had no trouble driving her car as long as she kept her seat belt on. On the way she finally asked her sister "How do you feel, Sue? Do you feel at all odd like I do?"

    "I do feel kind of peculiar, I can see like I don't have my mask on anymore."

    "You can?!" Marlee asked with astonishment.

    Suzanne was at first surprised by her sister's reaction, but then reached up and belatedly realized she had yet to take her mask off.  A slight tug was enough to assure her it was not her actual face now.

    "Oops" she said sheepishly "I'll change when we get to your house."

    Once they arrived home and went inside, Marlee took off the boots she had been wearing and found herself all but bouncing into the air with every step she took. It also did not take much effort on her part to jump high enough to touch the cathedral ceiling in her living room, when she came back down she would almost bounce as if she were indeed a balloon.

    "I need to get more heavy shoes, or at least weights to put in my heels" she said. "Bouncing like that every time I try to take a step is awkward, and what if it is windy outside? Might I just blow away if I am not careful?" Marlee appeared to have suffered little or no loss of muscle strength.

    Soon after, she began cooking a belated supper for herself and her sister (they had planned to eat at the Zanadu Center's restaurant). Suzanne went into a spare bedroom to change, saying she would be out again in a few minutes, and closed the door.

    A few minutes later Marlee was jolted out of her reverie by the sound of her sister screaming.