Jilssen’s watery gaze moved over her, a touch almost filthy as the maggot-squirming blind man’s.“You see,” he said pedantically, “all along, we’ve been trying tocreate.We need reliable means of reproduction.There’s only so much a coerced psion will or can do—Agent Breaker proves that, at least.We can’t offer some benefits the private sector can, and we lost a great deal of talent there before we started pursuing our policy of necessary persuasion.”
I wish he’d stop pontificating and use a noun, give me something to work with.She took a deep breath, sought stillness, calm.If this Anton was due along any minute, she might not have much time to figure a way out of the restraints.
The idea arrived as a gift, a haphazard plan depending on instinct, as usual.Oh.
Risky.She didn’t know what the drug he’d injected her with would do to her ability to concentrate, but it was worth a shot.
It took more effort than she liked, to reach for that space of quiet calm where most of her Talent lived.She listened to Jilssen’s babble with half an ear a she let her breathing lengthen.Her pupils dilated; she found the space of alpha waves and pressed, sliding home.
Immediately the room seemed a little brighter, the situation a tad more hopeful.
“That’s why we try to get them young, raise them right.Unfortunately, there’s something amiss.They are always highly resistant.”
Of course they are.You’re a bunch of fascists.The thought braced her.It sounded steady and amused with an edge of ironic anger, just like Hilary.
Shereacheddelicately, searching for the fringes of his mind through the drug-blur.
Hard, slippery, exhausting work.Sweat trickled down the channel of her spine; she smelled the chemical reek of exhaustion and her body metabolizing the drug, pushing it out through her skin.
Jilssen leaned against the counter, watching a separate monitor.“Heart rate steady, respiration normal,” he murmured.“EEG normal.Very good.Verygood.You like the alpha waves, don’t you, Miss Price?Empaths always do.Anyway, we discovered we had tocreate.It was a farfetched scheme, though one I always felt was viable.But of course, it was shelved until we came across the perfect psion, one who can alter cell metabolism and body functions almost at will.Capable of producing the focused bioenergetic fields necessary to alter genetic material and…” Jilssen paused, shaking his head.
Rowan breathed deeply, firmed her concentration, and tried again.The borders of his mind were so slippery, and the touch filled her with disgust shehadto push aside to make this work.
He continued, evidently loving the sound of his own voice.“There’s a time factor, of course.Your body isn’t capable of producing more than one at a time unless we use fertility enhancers.But once we have three or four good stock to breed from, we can begin to approach the problem of stem cells.There’s been some promising advancement?—”
Contact.
The sewer of a normal mind flooded her.Jilssen didn’t have any psionic talent, which made his ability to hide intentions from the Society all the more remarkable.
No, that wasn’t quite right.There was the shadow of another mind behind his, a psion whose mental footprint filled Rowan with frantic loathing, made her wonder if she’d ever feel clean again.
Ah.So that’s why he was so nervous when some of the kids in Kate’s class practiced their talents on him.
The mental walls holding his secrets were strong and thick, oozing slime.She didn’t even try to breach; she didn’t want any of Jilssen’s indiscretions.
She would settle for escaping his filthy, murderous reach.
Rowanpushedagain, delicately.Jilssen, still babbling, moved toward her, liver-spotted hands trembling.His fingers met the restraint on her left wrist and began to unbuckle it, slowly, unaware of what his hands were doing under her mental grip.
“—and of course, we have to pick that stock very carefully.We have samples to be cross-checked, and you can be artificially inseminated.I=I wonder if the gestation period will be shortened because of your accelerated healing factor?It’s a question I’ve often posed; Anton thinks you’ll gestate normally.We have a rather large wager.”
Another psion built defenses for him, defenses so good we couldn’t tell what he was planning.Who?
Fresh loathing bloomed as her attention drifted across Jilssen’s words.
They wanted tobreedher.Like a cow, or a pedigreed dog.
He unbuckled the restraint at her left elbow, then moved to her right wrist.Rowan’s head pounded with the effort of keeping him under control, pushing ever so gently, so carefully.A soft beeping—a red light flashing down at the end of the lab.
He didn’t notice.She strengthened her hold carefully, one fine thread at a time, every lesson from Henderson and Miss Kate standing her in good stead.
The old Rowan would have never been able to shut out the waves of disgust and terror.She trembled with both effort and repressed anger, her will turned to steel.Thepushtipped delicately, subtle mental control so insidious she was almost horrified at herself.
It was, at bottom, no different than what Sigma did to other psions.Controlling,using.
Her right hand was free.He moved so goddamnslowly.She gathered herself as his fingers asettled on the restraint over her right elbow.
“Of course, we had hoped to have you and Agent Breaker at the same time.”His halitosis was absolutely rank, and she saw with frenzied revulsion that his free left hand was playing with the button on his khakis, reaching to cup his genitals.No wonder this man had always repulsed her.“A specimen with his talent and yours would make a very fine soldier.Veryfine, once we breed out that regrettable streak of independence.”
