Not that Daddy wouldn’t forgive her, of course. Daddy always forgave her. He was so generous and good to her. Most everyone was, of course, but that was Daddy’s gift to her as well.
And now Psyche was able to make good use of that gift. Once she’d gotten the first group motivated to get out there and hunt Emry down, she quickly rounded up others, including that charming old lech Hanuman and his lady bodyguards (or body-somethings), to join in the search. Naturally, they were all oh so eager to come to her aid, to show no mercy to anyone who would dare to hurt her.
Unfortunately, her ability to keep up the persona of a victim was complicated by the fact that the delegates needed her help. Not many of them had the skills or enhanced senses to help in tracking, aside from Bast and a few others. So Psyche had to join in the search, crouching close to the ground and tracking Emry by her enticing, raw scent. It wasn’t easy; Emry’s trail soon vanished from the ground, and Bast had to follow it up into the trees. The she-cat lost the trail before long, but Psyche called up Emry’s personality model, simulated her behavior under pursuit, and chose a likely direction. Before long, she’d picked up that exciting bouquet again and led the search party in pursuit.
But as Bast and the others raced ahead, their path paralleling a wide stream, Psyche slowed down, absorbing a new datum from the personality model. When the panthress sighted a flash of burgundy in the undergrowth and pounced on it, Psyche had a pretty good idea of what she’d find. Indeed, shortly the disappointed Bast rose, the shreds of Emry’s blouse, pants, and boots clutched in her claws and teeth.
Psyche chuckled. Ohh, I could’ve guessed that even without the model.
18
Power Games
Emry ran through the forest on bare feet, water streaming from her hair. She’d figured that if Psyche could sense her hormones, she could track by scent, so she’d stripped to her panties and immersed herself in the stream. This was only a stopgap at best; movie myths to the contrary, scent molecules were highly hydrophilic and remained detectable in water for some time. A thorough bath and change (or abandonment) of clothes could confuse a scent tracker for a time, but it would just be a matter of searching until the trail was found again—and her near-nudity would probably make her easier to track. But with Psyche giving off psychoactive drugs from her sweat glands while she’d been pawing Emry all over, a stripdown and quick bath had seemed like a good idea. I’d rather go naked than wear her.
In fact, she reflected, she probably should have shed her panties as well. In the wilds of Neogaia, complete nudity would help her blend in visually if not by scent. In the past, she wouldn’t have hesitated. Since puberty, Emry had never met anyone strong enough to overpower her sexually (until Eliot Thorne), and so had never learned to feel vulnerable in the nude. But after what Psyche had done to her, she felt exposed in a way she’d never known. Her panties didn’t do much to counter that feeling, but they were the only thing Psyche hadn’t gotten her scent on. They were better than nothing.
Zephyr paused.
“Just tell me, okay?” she hissed.
“What?!”
“Ohh, ick! You mean she gave me cooties?!” She almost forgot to keep her voice low.
Emry suppressed a shudder.
Zephyr’s voice was gentle.
“It’s not the same!” she said aloud. Too loud. She sighed, gathering herself.
“Thanks to you. And thanks to Kari and the rest.” Kari! “Can you contact them? I’m gonna
need their help.”
Just then, a furry figure dropped from an overhead branch, startling several birds into flight. Hanuman Kwan came to his feet before her. He leered openly at her wet, nearly nude body, but his gun didn’t waver from its aim between her eyes. “Well, hello,” he said. Emry looked around for other pursuers, but Hanuman said, “Don’t worry—we’re alone.”
Emry tried to dodge around and get to the gun, but it moved swiftly to bear. He was quicker than she would have thought. “Ah, ah, ah, now do be a good girl and don’t move.” He tilted his head. “Well, if you wanted to jiggle up and down a bit, I wouldn’t mind at all.”
She burned with humiliation, angry at herself for letting his pathetic lechery affect her. She crossed her arms over her breasts, trying to make it look stern rather than defensive. “Hanuman, listen to me,” Emry said. “You can’t trust Psyche. She’s controlling you and the other delegates, with drugs, hypnosis—it’s built into her. She and Eliot Thorne, they don’t want a partnership, they want to rule you.”
“Well. How kind of you to bring this to my attention, dear lady, but I assure you there’s no need for you to worry on my account. You can’t trick an old trickster.”
“You knew?”
He gave a simian chuckle. “Why, of course, my dear! I knew all about the Thornes’ manipulative powers before I went into partnership with them. Why do you think I found them such useful allies?”
It took a moment for his choice of words to sink in. “The … the Thornes’ powers? Both of them?”
His eyes widened in mock surprise. “You mean you didn’t know? Psyche’s abilities are hereditary—though greatly enhanced, of course. Eliot isn’t the precision instrument his daughter is, and he doesn’t have her sensors and feedback mechanisms … but, well, you didn’t really think that legendary personal magnetism of his was the luck of the genetic draw, did you? Not when he’s enhanced every other advantage he has?”
Emry’s stomach twisted. “You mean … when I…” She stopped herself.
“Ohh, when you fell in love with him?” Kwan finished for her, looking sympathetic. “Oh, you poor girl. Yes, I’m afraid he was simply using you. It was important to him to win you over as a symbol. A defector from the Troubleshooters who would speak out against their corruption, giving the charge a legitimacy it couldn’t otherwise have.”
“No, it … that can’t be all it was to him. He wouldn’t have needed to … I would’ve done that without being made to…”
“I’m so sorry to be the one to break it to you, my dear. I really hadn’t realized just how badly you’d fallen for it.” He gave a melodramatic sigh. “What you need to understand about Eliot Thorne is that the very things that make him strongest are in some ways his greatest weaknesses. His tough skin, his resistance to injury and pain, it somewhat dulls his capacity for pleasure. The enhanced hormonal stability that keeps him psychologically balanced tends to diminish his passions. He doesn’t feel things all that strongly, I fear.” Kwan shook his head, tsk-tsking.
Emry didn’t want to believe it. “How … how can you know that?”
“Oh, Eliot and I go back quite a way. I did some of my graduate study on Vanguard back in the fifties. Yes, he was something of a prototype, so there were some unfortunate side effects. There’s something very profound there, I’ve always thought—that taking away the man’s weaknesses left him somehow diminished, cheated out of the pleasures of life. Almost poetic, don’t you agree?”
Emry was shaking her head now. “No. No, Eliot can be very passionate. I know.”
“Oh, he’s learned to play the game very well. He’s had to, you see. Feeling as cold and empty as he does leaves the man with a strong need to compensate. He craves stimulation, excitement. And like most people who fail to find fulfillment in love, family, or career, he seeks it through power. The game of conquest, control, domination of others. Be it political, sexual, emotional … it’s what he craves. Masterminding his moves, maneuvering his pawns. Winning them over to his will and convincing them it was their own idea.”
But Emry had her own question. “If you knew all this, why are you working with him?”
“My dear, most relationships are about using and being used. The key is to make sure it goes both ways. I help Eliot play the game of quietly conquering the Solar System, and in exchange, I get a power base that improves Neogaia’s chances of taking back Mother Earth one day.”
“And what kind of … help are you talking about?”
Kwan grinned. “Why, you don’t think Eliot Thorne would leave anything to chance, do you? Just waited around for someone to happen to launch a terrorist attack on Earth, goading them to persuade their close Cerean allies to crack down on the rest of the Belt and provide a common enemy he could unite us against?”
His words hit her like—like the sky falling in on her. She was on him in an instant, pinning him against a tree bole by his scrawny neck, the gun knocked aside without a thought. “You?! You … planned the Chakra City attack?”
Kwan feigned modesty as best he could under the circumstances. “I merely … provided the means,” he choked out. “I can’t take credit … for Eliot’s genius.”
Her fingers yearned to close around his neck, and only her love for her mother and father, for Sensei, and for Arkady kept her from betraying their faith in her by killing. Besides, her rage was coalescing on another target now.
Slamming a fist into Kwan’s gut, leaving him in a half-conscious heap on the forest floor, she scooped up his fallen gun and ran, no longer caring if anyone spotted her. She knew Eliot Thorne’s itinerary for today. She knew where he would be.
Emry merely quickened her pace. “I’d like to see anyone try and stop me right now.”
* * *
Selkie broke cover as soon as that horrid Blair woman was out of sight, racing to her dear mentor’s side. “Ohh, Hanuman, are you all right?” She helped him up into a sitting position against a tree trunk, checking him for injury.
“Yes.” He coughed. “Yes, I’ll be fine. I’ll—stop fawning over me, you pathetic twat!”
Selkie backed away and lowered her head. “Yes, sir. I’m sorry, sir. Would you like to punish me now?”
He gave a pained chuckle. His approval at her obedience comforted her. He’d always been there for her, telling her what to think and not to think, giving her purpose, training her for love and war, ever since she’d been a little girl. “No, no, that can wait until tonight.” She flushed with anticipation, but grew concerned as he began coughing rather nastily again. She kept her distance, though, for fear of angering him again. He noticed her worry and stroked her short-furred scalp. “Don’t worry, I’ll be fine.” He coughed again. “She … packs a wallop … but for all her bluster, she doesn’t have that killer instinct.” He pulled Selkie closer. “Which is where you come in, my dear.”
* * *
Thorne was down in the underground labs in the lake sector of Neogaia. An armed, nearly-naked woman storming her way into the place naturally attracted a certain amount of attention. But once they saw the look on her face, most of the personnel knew better than to get in her way, and the few who tried soon regretted it. She took a lab coat from one of them, not wanting to be exposed to Thorne right now. She’d prefer her light armor, but this would have to do.
She found him in an observation room, its wide, transparent wall looking out into the depths of the lake beyond, where a variety of Neogaians swam. Grandma Rachel and a gaggle of scientists were there as well. “Get out,” Emry barked at them, her weapon pointed at Thorne to make clear that he wasn’t included. The Vanguardian leader met her gaze calmly.
Most of the scientists didn’t need to be told twice, hurrying from the room. But Rachel stayed, coming closer to her granddaughter. Emry spoke coldly. “Get out, Rachel. You’ve got a baby to protect.”
“Emry, what’s going on? What happened?”
Emry glared at her. “Did you know? Just tell me that, Grandma. Did you know what this … this conference is really all about?”
“What do you mean?”
“You must’ve known about Psyche. You helped make her what she is. You had to know how she can control people. Have you been in on this from the beginning? Have you been lying to me, manipulating me along with the rest of them?”
Rachel crossed her arms. “Emerald, you need to calm down and start making sense.”
“Making sense? My Goddess, you can talk to me about making sense? It doesn’t make sense to me at all that you could be a part of, of mind control and mass murder. But I can’t see how you couldn’t be. You had to know about Psyche’s powers. You had to be a part of making her into a weapon!” She whirled on Thorne, sensing his attempt to ease closer. “And you stay back! You don’t want to punk with me right now!”
“Emry,” Rachel said. “Yes, I know all of Psyche’s enhancements. They’re tools for helping her gain empathy and insight into others, build bridges of understanding. Of course I’m aware of how they could be corrupted into weapons. But Eliot wouldn’t let that happen, and neither would I.”
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