True.
She stared at him. “You aren’t kidding, are you!”
“I do not joke. But I would hope that such inducement would not be necessary.”
She sighed. “Okay, you win. I agree to do the three things you say you want of me.”
“Excellent.”
He is surprised. To him your moods and decisions are strange. He can not be sure when you are telling the truth.
They finished the meal. Then Stallion came to escort her back to her suite.
Colene had Horse tune the wall-screen to an entertainment program. She did not relate well to the sort of television the Empire had, but it gave her a cover for her contact with Seqiro. That business about vivisecting him had her seething. But she knew that was only part of what was wrong. Now tell me what gives. What’s Ddwng’s big secret?
He told Darius that if he does not cooperate, you will be lobotomized and the reproductive cells of your body taken surgically for use by the people of this reality, to replenish their stock. They are too conformist, genetically; they must introduce variety, or suffer slow degeneration.
Colene was stunned. Now she knew why Darius was playing the game! She was the cause of it.
She tried to keep her face straight and her body relaxed, so that the hidden sensors could not read her reactions well. Whoever was watching her would know that something was bothering her, but might assume it was the stupid wall-program. Or the threat to her horse, which wasn’t far wrong.
The more she dwelled on this news, the firmer her reaction became. It was utter fury. The Emperor was keeping her close to him and treating her like a great lady, while threatening her horse and herself with dire consequences. Rape? He was expert at it!
So what was she going to do about it? Ddwng seemed to hold most of the cards. He was holding them hostage against each other, and was unscrupulous enough to make good on all his threats. But if they all went along, and the Emperor got that Chip, he could ravage the other realities too. Was their welfare worth it?
If they didn’t cooperate, it might not stop Ddwng. He would kill them and head into the Virtual Mode on his own, and maybe he would find the Chip anyway. His chances of getting it would be greatly reduced, and his chances of getting lost or killed increased, but he was obviously one tough nut and he well might get through. In which case they would have sacrificed themselves for nothing.
No, the only sure way was to be rid of Ddwng. To agree to do his will, get him into the Virtual Mode, away from his minions, and destroy him. Feed him to a telepathic bear or something.
But right away she saw several problems with that. First, Ddwng wouldn’t fall for it; he would know not to trust them. Second, Darius wouldn’t give his word unless he meant it, so Ddwng could trust him, and for Ddwng’s purpose Darius was the only one who mattered. The rest of them were just to make sure Darius didn’t change his mind; they had to keep encouraging him to give Ddwng that Chip. How could Colene do anything else, when Seqiro would be hurt? There was probably some sort of threat against Provos too, so she kept her mouth shut. She might know what was going to happen, but not be able to prevent it.
That gave her a passing notion. Seqiro—did you tune in on Provos when she was here? Did she know our future?
Her mind is permeable but strange. She was just beginning to know it. She takes time to remember, in a new reality. She seemed to see us being here for ten days, then going back into the Virtual Mode with Ddwng. She could not see beyond that.
Well, that’s enough. So we are going to do it.
Yes, as she sees it.
Colene felt a surge of despair. It was already decided! They were locked into the Emperor’s fell plot. Whatever they did, Ddwng would win, because he was what he was and they were what they were. If only Darius weren’t so honest! If he agreed, even under duress, he would carry through. Colene herself would have no such compunction; a pledge made under duress was not binding. Knowing what she now knew of Ddwng, she would have no compunction about lying to him. She would not let the DoOon exploit the other realities as they had this one! But she had no power. Darius didn’t want to see her hurt, so he would agree, and that would be that. Should she condemn him because he really did love her?
Damn, damn, damn! Ddwng could tell when others were lying, because his instruments read their body signals. Colene was different; he couldn’t quite keep track of her, because she was wildly mixed up inside. The DoOon were pretty much all of a kind, their genetics inbred; that was why they needed new blood, and her ovaries represented that. So Ddwng was trying to understand her, not because he cared about her but because he didn’t want to introduce truly crazy blood into the DoOon strain. He was surveying her as he might a new breed of animal, making sure of the quality. Once he was sure that her mind did not represent a genetic danger to the stock—
Could she pretend she was truly crazy, and scare him off? No, because it was Darius he really needed. He could throw her away if he decided she was worthless. She would do better to satisfy him that she was actually a pretty genetically solid creature, and then do something wild in the Virtual Mode, like pushing him off a mile-high cliff into a mile-wide bed of carnivorous oysters who hadn’t been fed for two years. But he would surely be well armed, and have electronic armor and an antigravity suit and other super-science that would make him invulnerable to any betrayal she might attempt. In fact, he would probably have one of those little pain dials Horse had shown her, tuned to all of them, so that it would go off if anything happened to him and they’d all fry. She would have no way to do him harm, for sure.
But she absolutely refused to let him get away with it. She had faced down Biff in that bleeding contest; there must be some way she could beat Ddwng. Some nasty little plot she could hide in her nutty little mind, that he couldn’t fathom. Some little poison needle he wouldn’t even feel until it was too late. She had read once about a woman who put slow-acting poison in her vagina, and killed her false lover because after sex with her he just went to sleep, while she got up and quickly washed herself out before she got too bad a dose. If Colene had something like that, and Ddwng did rape her, what revenge! Yet even if she had something like that, and managed to kill him—what would his death do to the Virtual Mode? He was an anchor person. A dead anchor—that just might blow up the whole thing, like a rock in a fan, and kill them all. Could she afford to gamble on that, even if she had the poison, which she didn’t? She was ready to die, but she didn’t want to do it to Darius or Seqiro.
The anchor—there was the problem. It wasn’t safe to touch an anchor person. Ddwng surely realized that, so he wouldn’t kill any of them as long as he had any chance to travel their Virtual Mode, and he wouldn’t do anything to them while they were on it. So he was muscling them into shape in other ways, taming them, bending them to his will. If only he weren’t the anchor for this reality!
Then the answer flashed through her consciousness like a lovely meteor. Seqiro! We can do it!
Seqiro considered, using her intelligence and his objectivity. Yes, it is possible, if he does not suspect.
I’ll lull him right to sleep! I’m good at fooling people. Trust me.
I do.
Colene had to laugh. Seqiro was the only one who had ever truly understood her. He trusted her because he knew her for exactly what she was: a conniving little wench. Horse-face, I love you!