Only Superhuman (39 page)

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-tsk
ing.

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.

Zephyr warned.

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.”

“Just like he wouldn’t ‘let’ the Neogaians attack Chakra City and murder my mentor?”

Rachel gasped. “Who would tell you such a thing? Eliot, talk to the girl, explain it to her!”

Thorne crossed his arms. “I don’t think you’re in the mood for explanations right now, are you, Emerald?”

“There’s that keen insight into human nature. Go on, impress me more.”

“I suppose Psyche was facing resistance from you and pushed too far to keep you under control—enough to do something your defenses could detect. It’s a chronic weakness of hers, I fear. She’s too accustomed to getting what she wants, and sometimes forgets the value of patience.”

“Is that why she killed Sensei Villareal?” Emry asked, making Rachel gasp again. “Out of ‘impatience’?”

“If you know about her abilities, I assume you know about mine as well. So I won’t try to cajole or comfort you. I’ll simply explain that neutralizing Villareal was necessary. The threat of Ceres united with the Troubleshooters is needed to motivate the rest of the Belt to come together.”

“You liar. Sensei’s endorsement would’ve helped the alliance, not hurt it. You just didn’t want the Troubleshooters in the alliance because people would’ve turned to them for protection instead of you.”

“And what good would that have done them? The Troubleshooters are a handful of costumed vigilantes, more about making the public
feel
safe than making a real difference. They’re no more than the Vanguardians were four decades ago. Look how easily they were co-opted by the Cereans.”

“Were they really? Or did you send Psyche to seduce Gregor Tai and pillow-talk him into taking over the Corps?”

Thorne smirked. “I hardly needed to. Earth and the Sheaf were already primed to react the right way. So proud and secure in their unified, benevolent social order. So convinced they have the answers the Striders sorely need. All it took was a trigger, and they reacted exactly as our models predicted.”

“My God.” Rachel was staring at Thorne now. “You’re not saying it’s true, Eliot? About Chakra City?”

“Something had to be done,” Thorne insisted to both women. “You know it as well as I, Rachel. If we can engineer a better humanity on an individual scale, we should be able to do it on a societal scale as well. And we have a responsibility to do so. We left the Belt alone before when we could have helped, and look at the chaos that’s resulted! They need to be guided in a better, healthier direction, and we’ve waited long enough to begin. We’re ready now. With Psyche a successful adult, with her eldest siblings nearing maturity. There had to be a trigger to set the process in motion.”

“You hypocrite!” Emry cried. “How can you talk about making things better when you’re willing to kill people to do it?”

“How many more people will die in the long run if we don’t start making a difference now? The sacrifices are regrettable, yes. And I’m sorry that two people you cared for so much had to be among them. But it’s a step along the way to a better system. Once we establish the alliance, once we’re directing systemwide policy through Psyche’s influence and that of her siblings and heirs, there will be no need for such violence!”

“Directing policy—you mean mind control!”

“I mean nothing so melodramatic. All politics is about attempting to persuade people to see one’s point of view. But conventional means of persuasion rarely work in the face of human stubbornness or greed, and war, corruption, and cruelty are the result. I discovered that the hard way during the cislunar conflicts. So ever since, I’ve dedicated myself to finding more effective forms of persuasion. Imagine being truly able to convince everyone to work together toward a common good.”

“And what about their free will?”

“All freedom is relative, Emerald. Even the most democratic society imposes legal and social constraints on its members—and when those constraints are too weak or ineffective, chaos results. All we have done is to create a means whereby people’s behavior can be governed through an understanding of their own wants and needs, through persuading them to share a common goal for their own reasons.

“Do you really want to keep fighting for the rest of your life, Emerald? Beating people up, throwing them into prison cells, and pretending that makes a difference? I’m offering you something so much greater. I’m offering a role in bringing peace and unity to the human race for all time to come, evolving the entire species into a fitter, more viable whole.”

He took a step toward her, reaching out. “I can see how driven you are to find peace, Emerald. That’s part of why I chose you to be at my side. I want to give you that chance. Join with me, and together we can create an enduring legacy of peace. Sons and daughters who can change worlds through gentle persuasion and make war and crime a thing of the past. Isn’t that a future any Troubleshooter would willingly give his life to help create?”