Chalker, Jack L. - Well of Souls 02 (3 page)

"I think it should be, and all traces of the research erased," Zinder maintained. "What we have is the power to play god. I don't think we're ready for that yet."

"You can't uninvent something once invented, regardless of its implications," Trelig pointed out. "But, I agree, word should be kept under wraps. If even the knowledge of your discovery got out, it would inspire a million other scientists. I think, for now, you should pull the project out of here and move to some place safe, isolated."

"And where would this safe place be?" Zinder asked skeptically.

Trelig smiled. "I have a place, a planetoid with full life-support, normal gravity maintenance, and the like. I use it as a resort. It would be ideal."

Zinder felt uneasy, remembering Trelig's sleazy reputation.

"I don't think so," he told the big man. "I think I'd rather put the matter to the full Council next week and let the members decide."

Trelig acted as if he expected that response. "Sure you won't reconsider, Doctor? New Pompeii is a wonderful place, much nicer than this sterile horror."

Zinder understood what he was being offered.

"No, I stand firm," the old scientist told the politician. "Nothing can make me change my mind."

Trelig sighed. "That's it, then. I'll arrange for a Council meeting a week from tomorrow. You and Dr. Yulin will attend, of course."

The big man stood up and moved to leave. As he did so, he smiled and nodded slowly at Ben Yulin, who returned the nod. Zinder didn't notice.

Ben Yulin would set it up, all right.

* * *

Nikki Zinder slept quietly in her own room, a room littered with exotic clothes, various toys, games, and gimmicks strewn about in no particular order. Her huge bed almost enveloped her.

A figure stopped at the door to that room and, after checking to make sure that no one was approaching, took out a small screwdriver and unscrewed the door pressure plate, carefully, so that the door alarm wouldn't be triggered. The plate off, the figure studied the small exposed modules and placed some spirit gum at several critical points. One module was removed and adjusted by placing a small strip of silvery material between two contacts not otherwise connected.

Satisfied, the intruder replaced the covering plate and meticulously screwed it back on. Replacing the screwdriver on a tool belt, he hesitated a second, tension getting to him, then pressed the contact.

There was a soft click, but nothing else happened.

Breathing easier now, he removed a tiny nodule of clear liquid from another pouch on the belt and attached an injector tab to it. Holding it carefully, injector out, he went to the twin solid door to the girl's room and slowly pressed on one section with his free hand, then moved it slightly to the right.

The door opened quietly, without the pneumatic hiss or any other appreciable sound that could be heard or detected over the residual air conditioning of the building. Opening the door just enough to slip inside, he turned and closed it quietly behind him.

By the dull glow of a baseboard nightlight he made out the sleeping figure of Nikki Zinder. She lay on her back, mouth open, snoring slightly.

Slowly, stealthily, he tiptoed to her bedside, until he stood almost over her. He froze as she mumbled something in her sleep and turned slightly on one side, moving away from him. Patiently he leaned over and peeled a bit of the sheet away from her, exposing her upper right arm. The hand with the injector and nodule reached over, and he placed it firmly on her arm.

His touch was so gentle that she did not awaken, but gave out a low moan and turned again on her back. Nodule empty, the man withdrew the tiny packet and put it in his pocket.

She did seem to be awakening a little, left hand coming over and feeling the muscle on the right. Then the arm suddenly seemed to lose its ability to move, and it limply fell away. Her breathing became heavier, more labored.

Taking a deep breath, he leaned over, touched her, shook her hard. She did not respond.

Smiling in satisfaction, he sat beside her on the bed, bent over close to her.

"Nikki, do you hear me?" he asked softly.

"Uh, huh," she mumbled.

"Nikki, listen carefully," he instructed. "When I say 'one hundred' again, you will begin counting down from there to zero. When you reach zero, you will get up, go out of this room, and come immediately to the lab. To the ground floor of the lab, Nikki. There you will find a large, round platform right in the middle of the floor, and you will stand on it. You will stand on it and you will not be able to move from the middle of it, nor will you want to. You will be frozen there, and you will still be sound asleep. Do you understand all that?"

"I understand," she responded dreamily.

"Avoid being seen going to the lab," he cautioned. "Do anything to keep from being seen. But, if you are seen, act normal, get rid of anyone quickly, and don't tell where you're really going. Will you do that?"

"Uh huh," she acknowledged.

He rose from the bed and went over to the door, which still worked on automatics from the bedroom side. It was free, though, and he opened it a crack, saw no one, then opened it a little wider. He stepped into the hall, turned, and almost closed the door.

"One hundred, Nikki," he said, and closed it all the way.

Satisfied, he walked down the corridor almost a hundred meters, meeting no one and noting with satisfaction that all the doors were closed. He entered the elevator, and the door to the capsule closed.

"Yulin, Abu Ben, YA– 356– 47765– 7881– GX, Full clearance, Lab 2 level, please," he said. The elevator checked him visually, checked his ID number and voice prints, then descended rapidly to the lab floor.

Once on the balcony, he walked over to his control panel and switched it to active mode.

He flipped the switch to Obie.

"Obie?" he called.

"Yes, Ben?" came that soft, friendly reply.

Yulin punched some buttons on his keyboard.

"Unnumbered transaction," he responded with a calmness he didn't feel. "File in aux storage under my key only."

"What are you doing, Ben?" Obie asked curiously. "That is a mode even I can't use. I had no idea it was in there until you used it."

Ben Yulin smiled. "That's all right, Obie. Even you don't have to remember everything."

What Obie had discovered, and Ben was enjoying, was the mode by which he could use Obie and then have Obie file the record of what was done in such a way that even the great computer couldn't get at it. Obie would still perform normally, but have a case of total amnesia not only about what Ben was about to do but about his even being there.

Yulin heard the elevator door open below. He looked over the balcony and saw Nikki, dressed only in that flimsy nightgown, walk normally and deliberately into the lab chamber and step up onto the disk. Centering herself, she stood erect, her eyes closed, and she seemed frozen, a statue except for barely perceptible breathing.

"Record subject in aux mode, Obie," Yulin instructed. The big mirror overhead swung out, centered over the disk, and shot out the blue ray. Nikki flickered once or twice, then vanished. The ray cut off.

It would be tempting, Yulin thought, just to leave her there. But, no, the risk was too great. She would probably have to be produced in the end, and he didn't want her on that disk with Zinder at the controls.

"Obie, this will be an unstable equation. It will not adjust. The act of change shall in itself be part of reality."

"Yes, Ben," the computer responded. "There will be no reality adjustment."

Yulin nodded in satisfaction.

"Psychological adjustment only, Obie," he told the great machine.

"Ready," responded Obie.

"Maximum emotional-sexual response level," he ordered. "Subject is to be fixated on Dr. Ben Yulin, data in your banks. Subject will be madly, irrationally in love with Yulin, and will think of nothing but Yulin. Will do anything for Yulin, will be loyal only to Yulin, without exception. Subject will consider herself the willing property of said Ben Yulin. Code it 'love-slave mode' for future reference and store in aux one."

"Done," the computer acknowledged.

"Sequence, then store as soon as both humans have left the lab."

"Sequencing," the computer said, and Yulin looked over the balcony. The blue light had flipped on again, and Nikki, still the same and still wearing the same nightgown, winked back in. She was still frozen.

Yulin cursed himself. It'd been less than twenty minutes since he had administered the dosage which was good for probably three times that. He'd taken no chances.

"Additional instructions, Obie," he shot back. "Remove all traces of the drug Stepleflin from subject and restore subject at full wakefulness, with the equivalent of eight hours sleep. Do this immediately, then return to previous instructions."

The computer accepted the new instructions, the blue light went on, Nikki flickered but did not wink out for more than half a second this time, then was back, awake, looking in amazement about the lab.

Yulin leaned over the railing. "Hey, Nikki!"

She looked up, spotted him, and the look on her face was suddenly so full of rapture that she appeared to be seeing the face of god. She trembled and moaned in ecstasy at the sight of him.

"Come up to this level, Nikki," he instructed, and she all but ran off the disk to the elevator. She was next to him in less than two minutes. She continued to look at him in awe and wonder. He lightly touched her cheek with his hand and an orgasmic shudder went through her. He nodded, satisfied.

"Come with me, Nikki," he ordered softly, taking her hand. She gripped it and followed. They boarded the elevator, and Yulin told it to rise to the surface.

The top level opened onto a small park, dimly lit by the artificial light of the clear dome. The stars shown distantly from horizon to horizon. She hadn't uttered a sound, asked a question, during all this.

There were a few people about. But since much of the research center was devoted to thousands of other projects, many kept different hours for various reasons, some just because of the need to share facilities.

"We must stay hidden from anyone, Nikki," he whispered to her. "No one must see us."

"Oh, yes, Ben," she responded, and they crept along the side of the walk, for the most part hidden in the bushes. There were some sharp needles on some of the bushes and plants that lined the walk, and Nikki was scratched and splintered by them, but aside from occasional rubbing or a near-silent exclamation, she didn't complain. Once he didn't see a short, dark man turn a corner, and she pulled him down behind a bush.

Finally they reached the grassy, unlit area that for obscure reasons some called the campus, and they cut across it, walking normally. Finally, crouched in a dark corner in the shadow of another building, they waited.

She kept her arm around him and leaned into him.

He put his arm around her, and she sighed. She was rubbing him and kissing his clothing.

He found the whole thing embarrassing and slightly nauseating, but he'd established the rules of the game and had to suffer for it.

At last, a small, sleek private carrier slid up to them in the blackness. A gull-wing was raised, and a man emerged and approached them. Nikki, hearing movement, looked around and then tried to drag Yulin back into the blackness.

"No, Nikki, that man's a friend of mine," he told her, and she accepted his statement and immediately relaxed.

"Adnar! Over here!" he called, and the man heard and came closer.

"You must go with Adnar," he told her softly. She looked stricken and clung even tighter to him.

"This is the only way we can be together, Nikki," he told her. "You must go away for a short time, but, if you make no complaints and do everything Adnar and his friends tell you without question, I'll come to you, I promise."

She smiled at that. Her mind was clouded; she could think only of Ben, and if Ben said something then it was true.

"Let's go," Adnar called impatiently.

Yulin steeled himself, then hugged the girl and kissed her long and passionately.

"Remember that while we're apart," he whispered. "Now, go!"

She went with the strange man. Unquestioningly, without complaint, they climbed into the black carrier, and it sped away.

Ben Yulin allowed himself to exhale, and for the first time noticed he was perspiring. Shakily, he made his way back to his own building and bed.

* * *

Antor Trelig displayed the charming smile of a poisonous snake. He sat, relaxed, in Gil Zinder's office once more. The little scientist was visibly shaken.

"You monster!" he snapped at the politician. "What have you done with her?"

Trelig looked hurt. "Me? I would do nothing, I assure you. I am much too big a man for something like a petty kidnapping. But, I do have a lead on where she might be, and I have some facts on what's happened to her up to this point."

Zinder knew the big man was lying, but he could also see the reason for the pretense. Trelig hadn't done the deed personally, and he would have made very certain that it wasn't traceable to him.