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somewhere, just more circumspect, and we have our heavenly host to consider as
well."
Layse went over and opened a small case and removed two sealed containers,
each with a label on it. "This gold one is the antidote," he told her. "The
marks on it represent degrees of recovery. Half dose will represent the more
classic hypnotic trance, where the subject, is aware but suggestible. All of
it should be swallowed for complete recovery, although she will go into a very
deep sleep for a couple of hours while it flushes out the remnants. The light
red potion is about forty percent of the dose of the amnesia potion that she
received. Don't let anyone drink it and particularly not her. That kind of
dose on top of the one she had would probably produce a childlike individual
with no memories, no self to speak of. Basically an animal."
"Don't worry. We're not out to steal your formula or use or abuse it. We just
want a means of getting her back without harming her."
"Where will you take her?" he asked, curious.
She smiled. "That is something it is better for you not to know." She looked
back out through the peephole. "I think everybody else is gone. She's taken
her medicine like a good girl and they're helping her over to a cot."
Layse nodded and was out the door. Timing was crucial here; there was no sense
in having to convince the medic here that there wasn't anything untoward going
on. He and Layse talked in animated terms for a while, then seemed very
chummy, and finally the medic picked up a file on his desk and handed it to
the
Director, who went through it absently, then told the man to go, he'd take
care of this.
The medic looked uncertain for a moment but didn't really want to argue for
more work. It had been a long day, and he had staff privileges at the
residence. He
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file intently, almost forgetting Kira.
She waited patiently; no sense in showing up and then have the medic or
somebody come back because they forgot something and see her.
Finally he sighed, put down the folder, and motioned for her to come in. She
did so, then looked over at the young woman who was out cold on the cot, dead
to the world. "Anything the matter?" Kira asked him. "I saw you studying the
folder."
"Medical history. Environmental adjustments were the first priority so we
didn't do much of one when she joined us, just the usuals to make sure she
could stand the work and was as healthy as she seemed. There was supposed to
be another one, a more thorough follow-up, a few weeks later but she seemed to
be adjusting so well and the case load is huge, so it wasn't done. This was
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the first physical she had. She's gained eleven and a quarter halgs, which
sounds high until you realize it's all muscle and some of it is fat into
muscle conversion as well. If that's not allowed to go back to fat it won't be
serious.
"Enough for me. I only weigh forty-three myself. Even Crim weighs only
ninety-two. It's a good thing we won't have to lift her. Any medical problems
we should know about other than that?"
"Only one, but it is really going to complicate your situation if you have a
very long journey."
Her eyebrows rose. "Yes?"
"She's three months pregnant."
That was a stunner. "Oh, greatl" Kira muttered. "Just what we needed. Does she
know?"
"I doubt it. If she underwent any morning sickness she didn't report it, and
who would notice any of the other minor symptoms out in the fields? It
probably won't start to show until the end of the sixth month, and who's going
to notice a bigger belly on her until it's well along? But it will weaken her,
slow her down, there will be biochemical changes, that sort of thing."
"Yeah, but what you're telling me is that I've got six months or less to get
her where she's going." She sighed. "Any idea whose? Somebody here, perhaps?"
"Possible, but doubtful. They don't usually take advantage of newcomers here,
and it's normally a few weeks before there's any real social activity. From
what you say it's unlikely she had any earlier male trysts on the move, so
that leaves the rape."
Kira sighed and looked at her. "Poor kid. No way to get rid of it?"
He looked a bit shocked, but recovered. "Urn, not without lots of work and
recovery, no. Not safely, anyway, and the other, cruder methods at this stage
risk infection, even possible death. If you take her tonight, either your
sorcerer has to come up with something or she's going to have the kid."
The woman nodded. "Well, I'll let Boolean decide that one." She turned. "Think
she's ready now?"
"Oh, yes. And the loose bowels was a one-time thing, really. Just a super
laxative. However, she'll have no bladder control in this state, so remember
that. Have her try going often."
Kira turned and walked over to the unconscious woman. She had come in directly
from a day in the fields and she was filthy and smelled like shit. There was
no way around that for now. "Misa, open your eyes, sit up, and sit on the side
of the bed." The eyes opened, but they were blank, as if still asleep, and she
did exactly as instructed.
"Now listen to me," she said carefully. "You will hear only the sound of my
voice and no other voice, so my voice is all that you will obey for now.
Tomorrow, a man will come to you and say the words, 'I am Crim, obey me as
well,' and you will hear him say that and then obey him as well as me and hear
either his voice or my own but no one else's. Do you understand that? Answer."
"Yes," she replied dully, in a voice that was startlingly low.
"All right, now stand up. You will follow me, three paces behind me, and
whatever I do you shall do until I tell you different. If I sit, you sit. If I
walk, you follow. If I stop, you stop. Understand? Answer."
"Yes."
Kira checked to see that she had the antidote and the sample. "Does she have
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panties she's got on?"
Layse shrugged. "Sorry, not here. Back in her room, yes, but there's no way to
unobtrusively get to it now."
"All right, all right, I'll have to make do. Getting out of here is the only
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real priority right now, and putting some distance between us and the forces
above. Can you put out all the lights?"
"Of course, but it will be pretty dark if I do."
"I am a creature of the darkness," she told him. "Still, there's enough
residual light from other sources for her to see me. Do it."
He killed the lights, and she waited for Misa's eyes to grow accustomed to the
dark.
"Misa, can you see me now? Answer."
"Yes."
"Then follow and obey."
Kano Layse suddenly had a thought. "Wait! What about the missing variable in
the formula?"
"You have it now. It is on the same paper as the rest of the formula. If we
leave this jurisdiction the variable will fade in and be like the rest of the
ink. If we are betrayed, or caught while still in the district, the paper will
burst into flame. That is fair enough."
Layse sat back down in the dark, disgusted. He had every intention of
betraying them on this. He felt like a traitor to the Duke in this matter, but
that formula when he saw it, and knew what it was was, well, irresistible.
Tomorrow he'd go down to the labs and start tinkering. In a couple of weeks
he'd come up with it, and his star would really shine and his position would
be quite secure.
But the price he paid still made him feel guilty. Creating Misa was the right
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