CHAPTER 10
Jendra
The journey to the transfer point, and then the jump to Magisterian space, passed in a blur. I sat wrapped in the thermal blanket, feeling numb as for the second time I beheld through the viewport the miracle of the stars shifting and changing in an instant. Alpha and Beta stood near Omega’s containment unit, their hands raised to reinforce the stasis field as we jumped. Beta had told me, curtly, that the interdimensional volume the ship would occupy—for less time than my human senses could even perceive—posed a danger to the stability of the field. I didn’t have any doubt he spoke the truth; even contained, the entity I had created seemed to radiate malevolence.
When the transport had stabilized in normal space, Beta left Alpha to maintain the field alone and came to sit across from me. His expression was unreadable—not unkind, but serious in a way that made my stomach clench.
“I need you to tell me what happened,” he said. “Everything. How you found the summoning protocol, why you attempted it, what occurred in that basement.”
I pulled the blanket tighter around myself. “I… I don’t know where to start.”
“Alpha says it probably began with a field trip your class took to Magisteria. Start there, please.”
So I did. I told him about the museum, about Sala’s demonstration, about the vibrating seats and the sensors. About returning to Hippolyta and not being able to stop touching myself. About finding the classified research paper on summoning protocols.
My face burned with shame as I described what had happened in the reactor room—both nights. The summoning itself, shaped by my darkest fantasies. Omega’s cruel domination. The things he had made me do, the things I had begged for.
Beta listened without interruption, his blue eyes never leaving my face. When I finally fell silent, he was quiet for a long moment.
“Tell me about the teacher in the foyer,” he finally said. “The one who wanted to keep you there.”
I felt heat blaze anew in my cheeks. “Ms. Opalin,” I told him. “She… she’s… I mean, she was… my favorite teacher.”
“And she’s a convinced egalitarian,” Beta said, nodding. “That was obvious.”
I swallowed hard. I nodded.
“I thought… I mean, I thought I would be like her. I wanted to be.”
Beta nodded again, this time more slowly.
“But you need a firm hand, don’t you, Jendra?”
He spoke in a completely level tone, factually, as if anyone could see the accuracy of his assessment, as if he didn’t have anything lewd or even controversial to impart with his words. My lips parted, though, and heat rushed to my face. Between my legs, too, to my dismay, I felt even greater warmth gather.
A firm hand. Like Hendrick the Elder’s firm hand. Like Alpha’s, against Sala’s little bottom. Like… like Omega’s, brutally spanking me over his knee just because he liked to do it.
Like… Beta’sown? I pushed the thought away and searched my mind for a way to answer his question.
“I… I don’t… I don’t… I guess… I guess I don’t know?” I finally managed to stammer.
“I need you to know that you have a perineal sensor installed,” he said abruptly.
I blinked. “What?”
“During your field trip. When you sat in that theater seat. A small device was placed between your vagina and anus—it monitors arousal responses, but it’s also equipped to detect a wide range of phenomena—including at the quantum level.” He pulled out a datapad, showing me streams of data I could barely begin to comprehend. “It’s how we located Omega’s manifestation. And it confirms everything you just told me.”
My face went hot. They had been monitoring me. Recording every shameful response, every moment of arousal. One thing Icouldsee on the datapad was that several lines had risen sharply just a moment ago.
“I’m not telling you this to humiliate you,” Beta continued, his voice gentler now. “I’m telling you because I want you to understand something important: you told me the truth. Even knowing how ashamed you are, you didn’t lie or minimize what happened. That matters, Jendra. That helps us.”
I looked up at him, surprised by the warmth in his tone.
“Getting rid of Omega will be difficult,” he said. “Possibly the most difficult thing any of us have ever attempted. But your honesty gives us a starting point.”
Alpha approached then, his expression grave. “The containment is holding, but barely. We need to get him to the laboratory immediately.”
Beta nodded, then looked back at me. “Jendra, you need to understand what’s going to happen now. We’ll have to study both you and Omega extensively. Your quantum signatures are entangled—you created him, and that connection almost certainly can’t be easily severed.”
