The Lost Swords

by Dave Hicks

 

Chapter 8

 

1

 

"Holy shit!" I cried, waking abruptly.

Suddenly, I realized both Angela and Amanda had been talking to me telepathically. It happened while I was fixing the hot water system at the slave house and also when I talked to the police. The reddish glow of clock beside the bed told me it was four o’clock in the morning. I put on a dressing gown and went to the kitchen. I made a cup of coffee and took it out to the verandah. I noticed a downstairs light was on at the slave house.

"Angela," I thought. "Can you hear me?"

"Yes David," came the clear reply.

"I’m coming over to see you," I said.

"Coffee’s ready," she said cheerfully.

I walked bare foot to the slave house. Angela and Amanda were sitting in the lounge, waiting for me. There was a cup of coffee on the table, waiting for me. They were both dressed only in a bra and dressing gown.

"Can you hear me Amanda?" I asked her mentally.

"Yes David," she smiled broadly. "Isn’t it remarkable?"

"I’m not sure I know how this has happened," I replied.

I picked up the cup in front of me and sat back in the chair, trying to make sense of it. The two women remained silent, waiting for me to speak.

"Can you talk to each other?" I asked.

"Yes," replied Angela.

"When did this happen?" I asked her.

"A few days ago," replied Angela, "when Amanda arrived."

"Can you pick up the thoughts of the other women?" I asked. "Can they pick up yours?"

"No," replied Angela. "It only works between us and with you. They can’t hear us and we can’t hear them."

I thought for a while.

"Can Eleanor hear you talking between yourselves and with me?"

"We don’t think so," replied Amanda thoughtfully, pausing for a few seconds. "No, we don't think so. I know she can’t hear me when I talk to Angela. We can hear her when she talks to us but we don’t think she can pick up anything we don’t specifically address to her."

I drank the rest of my coffee and Amanda took my cup, to make me another. I waited for her to return.

"Eleanor asked me if I’d allow you to have milk in your breasts," I said, when Amanda was seated again. "It’s so I’ll have a milk supply while she’s not here. How do you both feel about that?"

"Oh, yes," smiled Angela, putting a hand on her bosom. "We’d absolutely love that. It would be wonderful."

Amanda nodded her head in agreement.

"We’d like you to lock us too, please" said Angela.

"Lock you?" I asked.

"Yes," Angela answered, parting her dressing gown to expose her hairless genitals.

"We’d like you to lock us," said Angela. "To ensure our celibacy."

"We’ve already put the holes in our labia, where the lock goes through," she explained. "The thing to do it with, came with the locks. It didn’t hurt."

Angela rearranged her dressing gown to cover herself again.

"What kind of locks?" I asked.

"Shall I get them?" Amanda asked me.

I nodded.

She returned with two small gift boxes and placed them on the table in front of me. I opened one of them. Resting on a red velvet mat, lay a small gold padlock. There was no hole for a key, just a small, black, shiny, square panel, on one side of it.

"Where did you get these?" I asked Angela.

"I ordered them on your computer, with the account you gave us," she said. "Susie picked them up from the village post office for us. She didn’t know what they were. Did I do the wrong thing?"

"No," I replied. "But I think I’ll get you a computer of your own. You look like you may need it. I did say you could use the account for anything you wanted, didn’t I?"

Angela nodded, with a smile.

"The panel recognizes your thumbprint, once you lock it," she explained. "After that, only you can lock and unlock it. No one else can - including us."

"I’m not quite sure I know why you want to do this," I said. "You don’t have to, just to please me."

"But we do want to," replied Amanda. "Because we belong to you. We both have long, protruding labia, so it’s perfect for us."

"Yes," said Angela. "We need to belong to you very much. This way, no one else can ever have sex with us."

"We aren’t going to stay looking middle aged," Amanda informed me. "Over time, we’re going to become our true age again."

"And we’re going to be very beautiful," added Angela.

Amanda had been a human bio-technologist and it was reasonable for me to assume she fully understand what Loretta had done to them. From what I'd learnt about Amanda, she’d certainly experimented on enough people in her time.

"You both already are beautiful," I smiled. "Will you keep your figures?"

"Oh yes," said Amanda, cupping her bosom with her hands. "These will never get any smaller. Thank heavens. The changes are genetic."

Again, I realized just how cunning Loretta was. She’d set a time bomb, waiting to go off in the future. She’d made no mention of my slaves becoming younger and more beautiful over time.

I pressed the body of the lock, between my thumb and forefinger. It sprang open.

"It’s just recorded your thumbprint," Angela informed me. "No one else can open or close it now."

Angela rose and stood before me, parted her dressing gown, to expose her genitals. I put the lock through the holes in her labia and snapped it shut. It now hung freely between her thighs. Strangely, I thought it looked attractive.

I did the same to Amanda. When the were both seated again, I asked them how it felt about it.

"It feels wonderful," Angela said in delight, touching herself briefly between her legs.

"Yes," Amanda agreed.

"Won’t they get in the way, will they?" I asked. "What happens when you wear a girdle?"

"Please don’t remove them," urged Angela. "I'm sure we’ll manage."

"Okay," I agreed. "If it’s what you really want."

"Oh yes," they said. "Now we belong to you even more. No one can take us from you."

 

2

 

As the first light of dawn stated to appear, I washed the helicopter. Tseng, Susie, John and Claire trooped off to the lake for Tai Chi. They gave a wave as they walked past me. I’d already fed from Eleanor a short while ago, while she slept.

I tried to think what would have caused Angela and Amanda to become telepathic. Eleanor had said Angela was sensitive but she never mentioned the possibility of the slaves being able to communicate among themselves. It appeared as if Eleanor wasn’t aware of what had happened. I couldn’t decide whether I should tell her just yet. She may work it out for herself sometime.

It appeared the telepath women could communicate with each other and with Eleanor. My slaves could communicate with each other and with me. And Eleanor and I could talk to each other. What would happen when more slaves arrived. Would they also be able to talk to me, the way it seemed to happen with the normal women?

Michael looked up at me, with an overnight bag by his feet, while I was still deep in thought.

"Ready to go?" he called.

I’d offered to fly him to the airport, to connect with a commercial flight, the night before. He needed to see his friend who’d lost his wife recently.

"Thanks for talking to the two officers last night," I said, as we flew.

"That’s okay," he laughed. "They get a little full of their own self importance out here in the backwoods. I don’t want them knowing we’re running a telepath rehabilitation center. It’ll only makes for more questions. It wouldn’t help Grace or anyone else, for that matter. This way, everyone wins. You’re not doing anything illegal - so why cause unwanted complications?"

"Let me know when you get back," I said. "Paul or I will come and pick you up."

"Thanks," he replied. "This is something I have to do. I should only be gone for a few days. I don’t want to leave all those fish on there own for too long. John’s bound to lie and say he caught something the size of a whale, while I’m away."

"All fisherman tell lies," I smiled.

"And Pamela said she’d like to see a bit more of me too, as it happens," he remarked, with a grin.

"The stirrings of love, perhaps?" I asked.

"At my age?" he replied, looking at me skeptically. "You’ve got to be joking."

"You’re just a cynical old policeman," I laughed. "Who knows what might happen."

"Give it a break," he replied good-naturedly.

 

3

 

I drove the car I kept at the airport into town, to do some shopping. I bought five computers. One really very large and powerful. Angela and Amanda would now have their own computer and an integrated entertainment unit. I just about managed to fit it all in the car.

At the entrance of the lodge property is single lane wooden bridge, spanning a deep rocky stream. I ordered a heavy, remote operated gate to be erected at the end of the bridge, away from the public road. I didn’t expect the gate to stop any determined intruder for long. But I figured - while they stopped to open the gate, the large explosive charges I’d placed under the bridge might slow them down. Later, I’d place more cameras around the area.

Next, I visited a popular plastic food place and bought six burgers in a brown paper bag, with the distinctive yellow and red company logo on it. I dumped the burgers in a trash can and put the bag in my pocket. After withdrawing a large sum of cash from my bank, I placed the notes in the paper bag and carried it out onto the street.

I sat on a bench across from a bar, in the main street and watched it for a while. When I was ready, I entered the bar. My eyes adjusted instantly to the gloom. Another handy thing I can do. Samantha was at a table waiting for me, as arranged. She didn’t indicate she’d recognized me. Samantha is a professional. A slim middle aged woman, who looked like a faceless office worker from anywhere. Aren’t looks deceptive? I didn’t join her at her table, choosing to sit at another table nearby, with a good view of the front door and the rest rooms. I ordered a drink and let it sit in front of me untouched, next to my hamburger bag. I waited.

Nothing happened. There were only a few early drinkers at the bar. They appeared to be regulars, judging by the familiar way they talked to the barman. No one entered or left the bar. So far, so good.

Samantha picked up her drink and a briefcase and sat beside me, saying nothing. She put my paper bag into a case and replaced the bag with a near identical one she had already.

I took no notice of what she was doing.

She rose from the table, taking her case with her. Our transaction had been completed. As she got to the front door, I picked up the beer mat from under her glass and put it in my pocket. I knew she’d written a contact phone number and times to call, on the underside of it. I walked to my car and drove back towards the bar I’d just left. I saw a cab pull up opposite the bar and Samantha get into it. I followed the cab at a discreet distance to the airport, in case she might have trouble. I waited in the airport lounge until Samantha’s flight was called and I saw her board her plane.

Then I drove to my helicopter and unloaded my purchases from the car into it. Later, I would ring her and tell her what I wanted her to do for me.

 

4

 

When I arrived back at the lodge, Eleanor was on the verandah of the lodge, teaching Grace and Susie to paint. I gave Eleanor a kiss. After Eleanor fed me, I installed the computer and entertainment in the slave house. My ladies were over at the lodge preparing lunch and doing housework. I installed another in the kid’s house for their studies and to give them something to play with. The other computers I took to a large unused room at the lodge. I installed the big computer in a room, to serve as a central processing hub. I set up one of the smaller new computers next to it for security work. Another would be used for accounting. All the computers would now work through my larger hub computer, with access to a satellite link. A much more efficient way to organize everything.

After lunch John and Pamela went fishing. I didn’t know Pamela like to fish. I flew Paul and Claire to the airport, so they could finalize the sale of their house and karate club. Paul pilot’s license covered my twin engine plane, so that wasn’t a problem. They planned to return in a few days.

On my return, I went into the kitchen where Amanda was working.

"How’s it going?" I asked her.

"Fine," she smiled. "Coffee?"

"Yes please," I replied.

She made the coffee and placed the cup in front of me.

"How are you getting on with the lock?" I asked her.

"It fine," she said. "See?"

She lifted the hem of her pink uniform, exposing the white, full length girdle she wore beneath. She’d sewn a neat opening in the gusset of the girdle, so the lock could hang freely between her legs. I smiled and she dropped the hem.

"Is it uncomfortable?" I asked her. "It does look kind of sexy."

"It’s not uncomfortable," she smiled. "We hardly know it’s there. We’re glad you think it’s sexy. We do too.."

"Has Eleanor seen you and Amanda about starting you both lactating?" I asked.

"Yes," she smiled. "It’s all been done."

She put a hand lightly on one breast.

"I can feel the changes taking place already," she smiled. "It feels so nice. We can’t wait to feed you. Would you like to feel my breasts?"

"Later perhaps," I replied, not quite knowing how to respond.

I took the coffee to my bedroom and started up my personal computer. There was a message from Isabel.

The Fine Arts Foundation now existed. I was the trustee. I rented my land and buildings to the Foundation for a nominal rent of a dollar a year. Eleanor was the Director, for a generous salary. Paul, Claire, John and Ingrid were on the payroll, in various capacities.

I went to the verandah and gave Eleanor the news about the Foundation. She was delighted and gave me a hug.

Something quite surprising happened while I was holding her. I slipped into her mind. It was over in an instant. I saw her attitudes towards Angela and Amanda. She didn’t think of them as being human at all - although she was kindly disposed towards them. She didn’t care what I did with them. They were simply my property and I had an absolute right to do to them whatever I pleased. As far as she was concerned, nothing I could ever do involving the slaves I owned, would ever effect her relationship with me. For her, keeping slaves was like keeping dogs or cats for pets. At the same time, I noticed something. He attitude towards all slaves had been programmed into her mind a long time ago. I knew it had to be Loretta who was responsible. I was greatly relieved to see that Loretta had never altered any other part of her mind. It reminded me never to trust Loretta.

As quickly as I had entered her mind, I was out again. Eleanor never noticed I’d been there.

"You’re now the Director of the Fine Arts Foundation, my love," I told her.

"That sounds like a pretty impressive title," she laughed.

"I’m glad you like it," I smiled.

I looked at the paintings Susie and Grace had been doing.

"Their both quite talented," she commented.

"You haven’t done any yourself," I said.

"I just don’t have the time, at the moment," she smiled, kissing me on the cheek. "I promise I will later, my sweet man."

 

5

 

After dinner, Tseng and I played go - a very ancient Chinese game, using a board of nineteen by nineteen intersecting lines and small black and white stones as counters. Some games of go can takes months to play. A few famous games in history, have lasted decades.

During the game, I tried to fathom why Loretta would’ve programmed Eleanor’s attitudes towards slaves. Then the answer struck me. I had to do with her father. What Loretta had done, was to make it impossible for Eleanor to feel any attachment towards him. In Loretta’s own strange way, she was trying to save Eleanor from the emotional pain she’d experienced. I suppose it wasn’t really a big thing. Eleanor and I were aware our differing attitudes towards slaves. I hoped it wouldn’t cause any problems for us, in the future.

That night, Eleanor and I made love. Afterwards, we lay uncovered on the bed, stroking each other.

There was a knock at the door.

"It’s Amanda," said Eleanor. "From what I can pick up from her tiny mind, she’s been a real sweetheart and made us coffee."

Amanda entered the room, placed the cups by each side of the bed and left.

"Thank you," I said to Amanda.

"Your very welcome, David," Amanda replied, with a smile.

"I thanked Amanda for us," Eleanor said. "It was very thoughtful of her."

"Did you feel embarrassed being naked in front of her?" I asked.

"Of course not," she laughed. "She’s a slave. I’m sure I’d feel very uncomfortable having a woman looking at me like this. And looking at you too."

We talked for quite a while about the Foundation. Eleanor outlined her plans and I described the various buildings under construction.

"You make all my dreams come true," she said, giving me a kiss.

 

6

 

Next morning, it was raining lightly. Only Tseng was awake, meditating in a chair on the verandah. I went over to the slave house. Amanda and Angela were seated at the kitchen table having breakfast. They were dressed in their uniforms, ready for work.

"How are your breasts feeling?" I asked them.

Angela unzipped her dress and bra and released her massive breasts. I realized it was the first time I’d ever seen them. She gently squeezed a breast with both hands. Milk started to leak from the nipple onto the table cloth.

"Would you like us to feed you?" she asked, with a smile.

"We’ll give it a try," I agreed.

She sat on my lap and I sucked her large, firm nipple. The milk tasted the same as Eleanor’s. I don’t quite know why I expected it to taste any differently.

"That’s enough for the present," I told her, pulling my face from her breast, after a few moments.

She smiled, reluctantly got up from my lap and sat in her own chair.

"They seem to working all right," I commented.

"They’re working just fine," replied Angela happily, fastening the front of her bra. "We’ll be making a lot more, in a day or two."

Amanda made coffee for me and placed the cup on the table, in front of me.

"You were right about Eleanor not being able to hear us talk," I told Angela. "If she could, she would’ve heard Amanda and I talking when she brought the coffee to our bedroom, last night."

"We thought so," Angela nodded.

I finished my coffee and went back to the lodge. I sat on the verandah and made my call to Samantha. Tseng had left to do other things.

"Speak," I heard.

"Find the whereabouts of the swords of Dai Ho," I said. "Late of the Beijing museum, China."

"1224, 0327, 8841, 0982, 7512," she recited. "Do I repeat?"

"No,"

I wrote the numbers down and decoded them. They gave me a phone number and times to call her.

I felt the need to find something to keep me occupied. I was getting a little bored. Eleanor’s command I should find a hobby was taking effect. I also knew from past experience, boredom always got me into trouble - if I didn’t do something about it.

I was idly reading the local newspaper John bought in the village. An article caught my attention. An oriental company was investigating the possibility of setting up an electronics manufacturing plant on the island. For the next few months, company representatives would be traveling across the island, looking for a suitable site for the complex. The journalist who wrote the article, was hoping they’d select this area to build, providing jobs for the local people. It thought that was doubtful hope at best. These companies always used their own people.

I felt an alarm go off in the back of my head. Was it possible the Chinese authorities had tracked Tseng and Susie to the island and were trying to locate them? I had to find out.

I did a little investigation on my computer. The company was Chinese owned. Part of the NCI conglomerate, with strong Chinese government connections. I wasn’t bored anymore.

I entered the barn and moved an empty packing case, exposing a heavy, steel trapdoor. I lifted the trapdoor and entered the hole. A light came on automatically inside a concrete tunnel, where shelves lining the walls were full of weapons of every description. A quick look at the security system assured me that they hadn’t been disturbed since the last time I’d been there. The tunnel connected to other tunnels of the old missile base.

After I checked some of the weapons and set the security system, I climbed out of the tunnel, shut the trapdoor, returning the wooden packing case to its original position. I went to the lodge and entered the tunnel through the cupboard in my bedroom. I spent the rest of the morning doing a complete service on the gun ship.

The rest of the day was pretty uneventful. The calm before the storm, perhaps?

 

7

 

Early next morning, I met Michael, Paul and Claire at the airport and flew them back to the lodge.

"How did it go with your friend?" I asked Michael.

"Well," he said thoughtfully, "not too bad. I know what he’s going through and it’s tough. We had plenty of bottles of perspective and talked a lot. I’ll go see him again in a week or so. It really depends when they want me back at work. Given time, he’ll make it."

"Relax and enjoy annoying the fish," Paul advised him.

"I intend to," he replied, with a laugh.

Paul and Claire were happy with the sale of their house and club. It had gone smoothly.

"I suppose I’ll have to look for a new job," remarked Paul.

"You’ve already got one," I informed him. "Claire is the Accountant for the Fine Arts Foundation and you’re the Security Officer. At least, that’s what it says on the payroll."

Eleanor and Pamela were preparing to leave as we landed. They planned on being on the mainland a few days, trying to help the ill telepath at the mental hospital. I flew them to the airport and then to the mainland.

"Stay in touch," she said, as she and Pamela got into the rented car.

I felt a stab from the controller implanted in my skull, as it tried to force me to obey her command. Again, in her excitement, she hadn’t realized she was giving me a command.

I isolated the controller from the rest of my brain. I couldn’t allow it to effect what I needed to do. I could always reconnect later - if the need arose. Maybe not. Eleanor’s attitude towards Angela and Amanda made it impossible for her to understand; an innocent statement by her, could now cause me real problems. She doesn’t think of my slaves as real women, as I do. I knew I was deceiving her by disconnecting the device but I felt I had little choice.

"I will," I promised.

"Don’t start any wars while I’m gone," she warned me, with a laugh.

That was a command too but this time it had no effect. I removed all the previous commands she’d given me.

"I’ll try not to," I smiled.

"And make sure those slaves of yours look after all your needs, from now on. That’s what they are there for. They’re there to look after you, while I'm gone."

That was the sort of command I’d been afraid of. I was pretty sure Eleanor hadn’t been aware of the implications of what she’d just said. She’s basically ordered me to have sex with them.

"I will," I promised again.

"I’ll be back as soon as I can," she said.

"I know," I replied. "Just do what you need to do. I’ll be fine. Don’t forget to phone Isabel, if you run into any sort of legal problems. And John might be able to help you talk to the hospital shrinks."

"It’ll be fine," she grinned. "Stop worrying."

She kissed me through the open window of the car and drove off.

 

8

 

At lunch, I shared with Paul my concerns about Tseng and Susie’s safety. I showed him the security computer in the unused room at the lodge and ran him through the surveillance system I’d put in place. He seemed enthusiastic about his new job and suggested a few changes he’d like to make.

"Change whatever you want." I told him. "It’s your baby now. You’re the boss."

"What about the new place, when it’s built?" he asked.

"Why don’t we go for a walk?" I suggested.

Construction had already started. The concrete floors to some of the buildings were in place and the walls were rising. I introduced Paul to the construction manager. Paul and I spent some time walking over the site, comparing what we saw, with the plans we carried.

As we walked back along the lake’s edge towards the lodge, Paul had an idea.

"There’s an army buddy of mine," he said. "He’s the best security expert still drawing air. I’d like to bring him in on this."

"Excellent notion," I told him. "Only next time you get a good idea like that, just do it. You don’t come me about anything, unless someone’s stopping you from getting your own way. Claire controls the Foundation’s money now. Tell her you want to put someone on the payroll, at a ridiculously high wage. If I catch her penny-pinching, it comes out of her wages. You know what accountants are like."

The smile across his face lasted all the way back to the lodge.

"But don’t involve Michael in anything to do with security," I told him, as we entered the lodge..

"Why not? His input may be valuable."

"It probably would be," I explained. "But he’s an honest cop. Some of the things we do aren’t so honest. It would put him in a compromising position, where he’d be forced to make a decision between us and what he believed was the honest thing to do. I don’t want that."

"Right," Paul agreed.

"You haven’t fed since early this morning," Angela called to me. "You must be starving by now."

"I am a little hungry," I answered, feeling a few pains in my stomach. "Where are you?"

"At the slave house, waiting for you," she replied.

I lay on Angela’s bed, with my head in her lap. She opened her dress and bra and fed me.

"How are you going to work out which one of you feeds me?" I asked, after we’d finished.

"We empty our breasts two hours apart," Angela replied. "Whoever is the fullest, gets to feed you. That way, one of us will always be at least half full."

"Sounds like a clever system," I said.

"When the other two arrive," she smiled, "we’ll only be one hour apart. It’ll work much better then. And we’ll have more milk than we’ll know what to do with."

"What if I feed from one of you more than the other?" I asked. "Will there be any jealousy or resentment."

"Oh no," she laughed. "That can’t happen. We’re totally unified."

"What’s unified mean?"

"We’re mentally joined together," she explained. "We have a group mind. If I feed you, Amanda can experience it too. It’s a little hard to describe. We’re still individuals on one level - but at the same time, we share our thoughts and feelings with each other."

"Is it like having some for of a hive mind?"

"That’s about it," Angela smiled.

"When did this happen?" I asked.

"About the time Amanda became telepathic, when she arrived here," she said.

"Do you have any idea what’s caused all this?" I asked.

"I think you had a lot to do with it," she replied, stroking my cheek softly, with a fingernail.

I felt myself becoming sexually aroused.

 

9

 

My next job was to set up one of the new computers for Claire. She was happy to have it in her bedroom for the time being, while the new complex was under construction. I explained it was connected to a hub computer in the security room. It had links to all the other computers and anywhere else in the world by satellite. Before long, Claire was happily downloading suitable software and didn’t need my help any more. I left her to it.

I spent the rest of the afternoon fixing explosives to some of the larger trees that lined the private road, from the bridge to the lodge. Having some great tree landing on you can really dent a car’s paint work.

"Hello sweetheart," said Eleanor.

"Hi honey," I replied, "how’s it going."

"Fine," she said. "She’s definitely a telepath and a strong one. Her name is Ruby. She’s my age. We’re talking to her now. The hospital staff have been really cooperative. They don’t know what we’re up to, but the Director of Psychiatry said he was prepared to let us try. We told him we were using oriental spiritual healing techniques. I think he believes we belong in here too but he’s prepared to try anything that might help her. We’re making real progress too. She’s had a very bad time but I’m sure we can do it. It’s just going to take a little time that’s all."

"That’s great news, love," I said. "When do you think you’ll be back."

"Not for a few days yet, I’m afraid. Loretta doesn’t mind how long we stay. Try to be brave and don’t play with explosives too much."

"I’ll try not to," I laughed.

"Why is it, I don’t believe you?" she asked, with a smile. "See you soon, honey. I love you."

"I love you too. Bye sweetheart."

I talked to Ingrid about the problems of running a commune. She showed me a great roll of paper charts and diagrams she’d been working on. She and John had lived on a commune in Europe for six months, while they were studying at university. She explained to me some of the difficulties involved and I began to realize just how easy it was for a community of one hundred people to go awfully wrong.

"Factions and power struggles start to develop," she said. "The original purpose of the organization gets lost somewhere along the way. Personal conflicts are placed before the good of the organization."

"How can we avoid those sorts of things?" I asked.

"I believe, by studying those communities and organizations that have survived the test of time," she replied. "And it’s surprising how few ever do survive however. Not very many at all."

I nodded for her to continued.

"One method of survival is exclusion and enforcement," she explained eagerly, warming to the subject. "Only let those people join who share your goals. Then expel those who step out of line. Sometimes it’s a secret society, with little or no accountability of the leadership to the rest of the membership. Like having an inner circle. Another method is conditioning. Most cults and religions tend to use this one, in varying degrees of effectiveness. Some end in real tragedy. The leaders have to exercise increasing control over their followers, to maintain cohesiveness. Rebel factions challenge the authority of the leaders. Again factions develop. Then the leader reacts to protect his or her power base by using increasingly more brutal and arbitrary forms of punishment. Some organizations make a lot of money. Then greed raises it’s ugly head, as the leaders fight over the wealth and assets. Sometimes the leader dies or leaves and the organization simply falls apart within a short period of time."

"So where are the successful organizations?" I asked.

"It’s really strange," she smiled. "As far as I can make out, one of the most successful groups is Alcoholics Anonymous."

"But that’s a self help group for drunks," I said, a little incredulously.

She nodded with a smile.

"And how does it survive?" I asked.

"For one," she said, "it has no rules. Absolutely none. That in itself is remarkable. Secondly, it doesn’t exclude anyone, for whatever reason. Anyone who says they’re an alcoholic can join. It has no leadership and they lean heavily upon the spiritual but necessarily religious concepts. It doesn’t own property or make a great deal of money. In fact, it seems to function at it’s best when it’s struggling for cash."

"That doesn’t make any sense," I said.

"I know," she laughed. "That what makes it such an amazing model to study. It seems to defy all common sense. But it works. And it’s been working for a very long time. It’s never lost sight of the goals of its founders and it’s succeeded in dealing with many of the problems of alcoholism, where most other methods have failed miserably."

"So how would you apply what works for drunks, to a community of telepaths?"

"And that’s the real problem," she smiled. "We’re dealing with telepaths, not just ordinary people. In some ways, they share a common problem with alcoholics. They’re generally misunderstood, feared and persecuted by society at large. Like alcoholics, telepaths share common variant that excludes them from society. That can be a very strong bonding force for the members of an organization, if used intelligently."

"I can see it’s an involved subject," I said.

"But you’ve seen hundreds of communities in your long life," she replied. "Surely you’ve lived in societies that functioned successfully?"

"Sure," I smiled. "But none of them seem to be good for everyone."

"Give me an example."

"Right in front of you," I replied. "I own slaves. I would hardly call that a democracy. Would you?"

"Good point," she conceded.

 

 

 

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