Perfect Matron

by Dave Hicks

 

Chapter 11

1

  

"When you bought Katherine, just how much did you influence her thinking?" Bennita asked. "Just how much is she able to tell me of her own free will?"

"Anything and everything she chooses to tell you?"

"I don't understand," she shook her head.

"Okay," I explained. "I have never given her an order. In fact, I have never given any of my people an order. Within the confines of the conditioning the government gave them, everyone here is free to do whatever they wish. If she refuses to tell you something, it's because she chooses not to do so. It's not because I've ordered her to."

"Then would you be prepared to order her to speak completely honestly with me?"

"Certainly not. You presume too much."

"You won't let her be honest with me."

"That's not what I said and you know it. Firstly, I'm not prepared to do anything without discussing it with her first. If Katherine feels it's necessary for me to order her to speak freely to you, I will do so – but only at her request. However, I will not order her to do anything, simply because you wish me to."

I called Katherine. She was already on her way to my office and entered my office as I broke the connection. She sat at my desk. It was the only chair remaining.

"I thought you might need a little help by now," she smiled at me.

"Okay," I turned to Bennita. "Tell Katherine what you propose."

Bennita moved uncomfortably on her chair. "I'm concerned you're not able to speak to me of your own free will. I asked David to order you to do so. She refused, saying it was your choice to make, not hers. She suggested the three of us discuss it."

Katherine nodded. "And?" waiting for her to continue.

"Well?" Bennita replied. "Are you able to say anything you wish to me?"

"Of course I am. David has never ordered me to do anything. Surely she's told you that."

"But how can I possibly know it's true, without hearing David say you can speak freely in front of me? She could've ordered you to say exactly what you just did."

Katherine turned to me. "Any ideas?"

"You know how I feel about ordering anyone to do anything. Particularly you."

"Yes," she nodded firmly. She turned to Bennita, a little angrily. "Do you understand what you're asking David to do? Something which is completely against everything she believes in – all of us believe in. It's the one thing we're all working so hard to change. And now, you're asking her to do it for you and you're hoping you'll be able to get me to help you. I don't believe it."

Bennita nodded sadly. "Then how can I know?"

"You don't know," Katherine responded. "You either believe David and I - or you don't. It's as simple as that."

Bennita nodded reluctantly again.

"I appreciate your concern for me Bennita. Perhaps, when you get to know David better, you'll learn to trust her more – as I do. I hope so."

"I hope so too."

2

 

Bennita returned to Katherine's office to wait for her. Katherine remained behind for a few minutes.

"I know she's concerned about you," I said. "But it's not something I would ever be prepared to do. Especially to you."

"She is very concerned about me," Katherine responded. "But that's not the real reason for her request."

"What then?"

"Bennita told me, she tried to find out more about you. It resulted in a rather unpleasant visit from the government security section. She thought she could get the information she was after out of me."

I shook my head. "Are all Karalan women that sneaky? I noticed she used the word honestly when she wanted me to order you. However, when she was describing what I'd said to you, she used free will. That made me a little suspicious. If I ordered you to be honest, she could ask you whatever she wanted and you'd be forced to tell her. However, if I ordered you to answer under your own free will, you could simply refuse, as before. Clever."

"You don't get to be the Boss Lady by being trusting or stupid," she smiled. "Knowledge is power. You've met the Synod - you know what they're like. Compared to Bennita, they're amateurs."

I thought for a moment. "So how can we convince her you're able to do and say anything you want?"

"You don't. Keep her guessing. I doubt there's a way you could prove it to her anyway. Apart from her bringing in a team of psychologist to examine me. Can you think of a way?"

I shook my head thoughtfully. "She offered to provide some people to help abduct our intended guests. Should I be suspicious of her motives about that too?"

"Of course you should, my sweet angel. She wants to know what's happening here. Putting one or two of her own people in with us would give her an opportunity to get the information she needs. You're the one who has her intrigued. And she doesn't like having someone telling her she can't have something. And that includes the government. You have considerable power and influence, because of your wealth – and heavens knows what else. She would love to find a way of taking advantage of that for her own agenda. You're the only person in this place who's not a slave and we all belong to you. When it comes to security, this place is more watertight than a fish's anus."

"She's a cunning woman," I smiled. "Maybe it's just as well she doesn't know the extent of what's underground."

"Yes," Katherine nodded. "She's only aware of the lab and the captive's ward. When she transferred ownership of Zoe to you, I think she was hoping Zoe would tell her more. Of course it never happened. I'm certain Zoe is completely loyal to you."

"And don't forget my latest probably," I smiled. "We wouldn't want her knowing about that. And all my other probables - come to think of it."

"I agree," she nodded knowingly. "Let's not forget your latest probably. We couldn't possibly let Bennita find out about it - could we? Whatever it is."

Katherine rose from my desk and gave me a kiss. "Now you know where I get it from," she smiled, walking from my office. "It runs in the family."

"I guess it must."

 

3

 

Katherine and I were at home having dinner. She slammed her fork onto the table and looked at me determinedly.

"The food's not that bad sweetheart," I told her defensively.

"I've had it," she stated firmly. "I don't care what your next probably is, I have to know."

"Your two days aren't up yet."

"I don't care David. It's driving me insane."

I nodded, with a wry smile. "I thought it might."

"Tell me," she demanded.

"Come on then," I shrugged resignedly, placing my folded napkin on the table and rising from my chair.

We walked to the aircraft hangar. As we emerged from the tunnel, she stopped and stared. The two aircars and the fighter rested there, bathed in the strong lights set into the surrounding walls.

"I thought we might use one of the aircars as a flying ambulance. It would certainly be an advantage in an emergency. They're pretty roomy and they go fast. A bit of paint and I could get them looking better than a real one."

"Never mind those aircars," she remarked. "What's that enormous ugly black thing, sitting in the middle?"

"What black thing?" I asked innocently.

"Don't play games with me David. That bloody great black monster. It looks like something out of a nightmare. And I notice I swear a lot more since I married you."

"Ah, you noticed that. But swearing is okay. It helps to relieve tension."

"Not the swearing," she said patiently. "You know very well, I mean the black thing."

"That's my genuine military fighter craft. It's better than any fighter the Federation has. In fact, it's better than any warship they have. Nice isn't it. No doubt you've already noticed the sleek, graceful lines and the creative use of the color basic. Basic but distinctive, I feel."

She stared at it in amazement and shook her head. "I did want to see this - didn't I? I've only got myself to blame."

"It goes really fast," I told her proudly. "Would you like to go for a ride in it?

"In a real, military, fighter aircraft? Right now?"

"Sure. My task group's already been in it. Grace thinks it's beautiful and wants one for her birthday."

"She would."

"Well?"

Katherine nodded doubtfully. "Is it safe?"

"Of course it is," I laughed. "Who could possibly hurt us in something like that?"

She didn't reply.

 

4

 

Once we were seated in the command chairs, I turned off the hangar lights. The concealed, heavily armored, steel doors above us moved apart, revealing the night sky. When the doors were fully open, the fighter rose quickly and silently.

"I don't hear anything," Katherine remarked.

"It you ever do, let me know immediately. It may be the engine falling off again."

"Oh great."

When we were at an altitude of one thousand meters, I turned towards the ocean. We shot out over the water.

"It's got more screens than a media news studio," she stated, finally abandoning any hope of making sense of the instrument displays. "How fast can this awful monstrosity go?"

"We're doing a thousand kilometers an hour, at the moment. It can go a lot faster, if you want to."

"Has it got weapons?"

"Sure. Lots and lots of them."

"What kind of weapons? Do they work?"

"Of course they work. It's even got missiles, with both fusion and fission nuclear warheads."

"We're carrying nuclear weapons," she repeated slowly, in disbelief. "Are you joking?"

"No. But I only use them for recreational purposes. I wouldn't want to hurt anyone with them, would I?"

"I don't believe it. In fact, I don't believe anything about you, anymore. And another thing. You never seem to take anything seriously. You drive me crazy. Come to think of, if I was immortal, why would I take anything seriously? Hang on – I am immortal. Why am I taking anything seriously? You make my head hurt."

"You probably forgot you were immortal," I smiled. "It's easy for something like that to slip your mind."
"True."

"But seeing the fighter isn't as bad when you found out I was immortal - is it?" "No…" she admitted reluctantly. "This isn't as bad as that."

"And it's not as surprising as discovering I'm a man, whose really a woman, who looks like a man, with breasts, who ended up a woman, because I was a woman anyway - with really cute breasts. Not as nice as yours, of course. But that goes without saying."

"I have to admit, finding out you were a woman was a surprise. Especially when you turned out looking the way you do."

"And what about when you found out you could live for as long as you wanted to? What about that?"

"Yes," she nodded slowly. "By then, it was getting pretty hard to take it all in."

"And I've got a space ship that's older than human space travel. Who can never give me a straight answer to any question I ask it – I might add."

"I'll believe that when I see it," she decided. "At the moment, I'm in protective denial. If I don't think about it, I may stay reasonably sane."

"And don't forget my swimming medal."

"I thought it was a military medal. For bravery. You received it because you were silly enough to blow yourself up. You were in Military Intelligence."

"Yeah. That's the medal I'm talking about," I grinned. "It's even got a star on it. I use it for a bookmark."

I accelerated rapidly and turned the craft upwards towards space.

"Where did everything go?" she asked, looking from the side window next to her. "The water's gone."

"We're going up," I laughed.

"How far up?" she asked suspiciously.

"A long way up. All the way up."

"Into outer space?"

"Yes. That far up," I nodded.

"But, there's no air up there. Oh. Why do I bother asking the reason for anything? I'm bound to get a stupid answer."

"I already told you about space and no air. Remember? You go blue and funny looking. That's why they don't take horses up there very often."

"See? What did I tell you? Another stupid answer. And I refuse to ask about the horses." She was silent for over a minute. "Where are we going? Give me a sensible answer or I'm getting out and walking home. I mean it."

I chuckled. "Have you ever been to the Moon? You'll be able to see the Sun in a few seconds."

"Sure. I go there every week's end. You know damn well I've never been to the Moon."

"Just checking. You're getting very grumpy lately, you know."

"Who wouldn't be grumpy - living with you?

5

 

An hour later, we were sitting in the living room again. Katherine had a half full glass of wine in her hand.

"I've got nuclear weapons," she chanted, in a parody of my voice. "I only use them for recreational purposes. I wouldn't hurt anyone with them. Oh no."

"It's true… almost."

"I still don't believe it. How could you get hold of a craft like that? And don't tell me you forgot to hand it back when you left the army. I won't believe you."

"I had it before I joined the army. There's a couple more like it on the ship. This is the little one. The others won't fit in the underground hangar."

She finished her glass and refilled it. "Just how big is this ship of yours?"

"Are you sure you want to hear another probably tonight?"

"Oh no," she shook her head. "I've just been to the Moon and back in an ugly, black engine of death and destruction from Hell. I don't need another any more probables tonight, thank you."

"Suit yourself."

She thought for a minute "How big is it?"

"I'm not going to tell you," I laughed.

"Why not?"

"Because you wouldn't believe me. That's why I haven't taken you to see it yet."

"That bad huh? One of your really bad probables."

I shrugged. "About a middle of the range probably, I would say. Not a really easy one, like you had tonight."

"Right," she nodded firmly. "In that case, forget I even asked about it."

 

6

 

"Does Bennita really want to get rid of slavery?" I asked Katherine.

"Yes. Very much so. And to see me, her only true-blood relative and next of kin a slave, has made her even more determined."

"But she doesn't trust me."

"Bennita doesn't trust anyone," she smiled. "That's how she's got to where she is." We were silent for a while. "Do you think we can get rid of slavery?"

"I've done it on other planets. And we've got all the time in the world to work on it."

"True," she nodded. "That's something I've been meaning to ask you, for a while. Why were you in the middle of the Trolic War? Why get involved?"

"Because some nasty people wanted to destabilize the Federation. Eventually, other planets would've joined them and the Federation would start to fragment. And then there would be even more wars to follow. To survive, the human race needs to expand and not keep killing itself off all the time. With all its faults, the Federation of Human Worlds does provide a degree of stability and law and order. It's needed to allow peaceful planets to develop, without fear of being bullied by others."

"Yes," she nodded thoughtfully. "I guess your right."

She picked up the half empty bottle and rose. "It's been another long day, my love. I'm heading for bed. Are you coming with me?"

"Sure sweetheart."

 

7

 

I was in the Intensive Care Unit when I received a call on my bracelet. It was Katherine.

"Are you busy?"
"I'm never busy," I laughed, attaching a compression patch to a patients wound, in an attempt to stem the bleeding. "What's the problem?"

"That's just it. We've got a problem."

I indicated to Hanna to take over from me. "Where are you?"

"In my office."

"I'll be there shortly."

Coffee was waiting for me what I arrived. I sat before her desk.

"Take a look at that," she told me disgustedly, tossing a sheet of paper.

I read it.

"A reporter from a video news feed," Katherine explained. "He says the public needs to get the inside story on a hospital run almost entirely by slaves. What am I supposed to do?"

"So what's the problem?"

"I've got a cook who poisoned her husband," Katherine replied, leaning back in her chair resignedly. "A psychologist who's so badly mentally adjusted, she's a serial killer. A maintenance engineer who was supposedly responsible for a train accident which killed hundreds of people. We also have a nurse who murdered her own baby. My Pharmacist was a drug addict. And a good measure of prostitutes and most of them have killed at least one person. Not to mention the Director, whose married to the Matron. And she looks like the goddess straight out of every man's erotic fantasy. And if you say just one clever word - I'll kill you."

"Just tell him we're a private hospital of the Karalan faith. We don't conduct interviews with the media"

"That's no good. A reply like that only makes them more determined to find out what we're doing here. As far as their concerned, it only proves we've got something to hide. I even thought of letting Zoe try out her slave machine on him. That's the highly illegal one, by the way; the one we don't want anyone to know about. She's been pestering me for a victim for a while now. But if he goes missing, there'll be even more problems when they come looking for him."

"Then why not let Zoe try it out on him anyway?"

She gazed at me. "You're joking – aren't you?"

"No I'm not," I laughed. "You don't have to do anything as radical as make him a slave or turn him into a woman. But the machine is perfectly capable of programming him to giving a glowing report of the hospital, surely. We get a good report card from the media. We solve a number of problems at once. Ruth our Psychologist and Zoe start learning to work at a team. They need some time together before it's time to condition the new slaves. Ruth learns the finer points of programming the human mind. Zoe gets to check out all the basic functions of her new machine. She'll discover what needs fine tuning for the more serious stuff later. And who knows? With our tame reporter's contacts in the media industry, he might turn out to be quite useful in the future."

Katherine smiled affectionately. "Sometimes, you can be quite intelligent."

"I'm not just all good looks then?" I laughed, as I finished my coffee, stood and straightened my uniform.

"No. Not just a pretty face."

8

 

I walked into the Administration building. Grace looked up from her display and nodded a curt greeting.

"Is her Ladyship in?" I asked.

"She's playing that stupid game of hers again. I leave her alone when she's doing that. She seems to take it really seriously."

"What stupid game?"

"I don't know what it's called," she shrugged. "It's a game with lots of black and white squares. It just sits there and she stares at it. So boring. By the way - when do we start doing real work?"

"I'll tell you all tonight."

"Yes," she grinned.

I headed for Katherine's office. As I entered, she looked up from the projection on her desk.

"I know she's up to something," shaking her head sadly. "Bennita would never give up a Fortress without expecting something more in return. I've stared at it for days, but I can't see what she's planning."

I sat opposite her and was surprised by what I saw. I hadn't seen the game in thousands of years. Various pieces of black and white were arranged on a playing surface of sixty-four alternative, black and white squares on a board. After several seconds of thought, I could see Katherine would probably loose her Queen in five moves, if she captured the piece she referred to as the Fortress. Failing that, her opponent would almost certainly take a piece of equal value and improve their position.

"Where did you learn to play?" I asked.

"Do you know what it is?"

"Sure. It was called Chess. Quite popular, until no one could beat a computer at it anymore. That's when Go and Palto caught on. Where did you learn it?"

"My mother taught me," waving her hand over the game to make it vanish. "It's been in our family for countless generations. Bennita and I have been playing it since we met. No one knows about it but my true-blood family. It's a secret. It was one of the things which convinced her I was her true-niece."

"Have you ever beaten her?"

"No," she replied suspiciously. "Why do you ask?"

"I thought not," I laughed good-naturedly.

"You're getting almost as bad as her. You said you knew the game. Where does it come from?"

"Home Earth. Thousands of years ago. It took various forms, but that was the most popular version, for a time. I'm surprise anyone remembers it."

"Can you see what she was planning to do? Is she going to win again?"

"Almost certainly."

"And you won't tell me how - will you?"

I laughed and shook my head.

"That's what I thought," Katherine said. "Like I said. You're getting more like her every day."

"Maybe I always was."

"Maybe you were."

 

9

 

The fighter emerged from the launch port, a short distance from the hangar and settled on the ground nearby, well shielded from view of the hospital by a grove of trees. I opened the door and the group took their positions inside. They were all dressed in casual clothing or hospital uniforms. We flew quickly to the training area. On landing, I had them assemble in a camouflaged building they'd come to call The Bunker.

"What are you looking so smug about?" Lisa asked Grace accusingly.

"Nothing," she grinned.

"Ignore her," Paula advised Lisa. "She in one of her moods again. You know what she gets like."

Once they'd changed into their black uniforms and settled around the large central table, I projected a list of names on a wall where all could see.

"This is our primary target list," I told them.

"Mine's there," Angela nodded grimly. "Good. Payback time - at last."

"And mine," Yvonne agreed, with a nod. "It's been a long wait."

"They're all there," I told them. "Now it's a matter of timing and risk assessment. With the highly detailed information 'G' has provided, I can't see any major problems. But I want us to discuss it. As 'G' remarked – it's time to go to work."

"Real work," Grace added happily, affectionately stroking the zeng knife strapped to her wrist.

 

10

 

I passed out sheets of paper with a general description of each target.

"Initially, there'll be seven targets," I told them. "You'll find a page on each one before you. I have a feeling the ones you'd like to get first are the people who hurt those present. However, this has to be done in right order. I don't care how much you'd like yours to be first, I'm concerned about mission success, with no losses. Accept it. We'll take the easiest of them first, to give you confidence and get you used to working together in a real situation. That way, there's less chance it going bad. There's still much to learn and I want this done as quietly and as cleanly as possible. But I promise we will get all your targets eventually. You've been patient up to now. A few more weeks I'm sure you can manage. Your first target is not on the list but I consider it to be of minimum risk and a good exercise to expose any problems."

They nodded, some a little more reluctantly than others.

"Spend time reading through the data "G" provided. There's plenty more where it came from. Ask her any questions. I'm sure it must be burnt into her brain cells by now. No information about these pieces of shit is unimportant. You never know what you might need, when the time comes. If we want this to succeed, we have to do it right and that means preparation. When the first target is decided, these walls are going to be covered with stuff about the target, for you to study. Remember, if they get killed, they're no use to us. And you'll have 'K' to deal with."

"And others," Ellen added firmly.

"I've got a question for 'D'," said Lisa, tentatively raising her hand. I nodded. She grinned. "Who's 'G' again?"

"That's me, stupid," Grace sneered. "'G' is for Grace. You're 'I' - for idiot. Remember?"

"And what happens when the authorities start noticing these bastards are going missing?"

"They will notice and they'll investigate," I replied. "The more we abduct, the harder they'll look for them. And don't forget. Once a pattern starts to emerge to the abductions, our targets grow a lot more careful. That makes them harder to get. As you can see from the summaries, some of them have a lot of power and money. That's why we don't make mistakes."

"Mine not doing so well, when it comes to power," Grace smiled. "She'll be doing a lot less well – real soon."

"That doesn't mean you go first," Paula reminded her.

"I know that."

"That's okay then. I know you. You always want to be first."

"I can wait a little longer," Grace chuckled ominously. "I can wait."

 

11

 

"Yvonne spoke to me," Katherine mentioned, at breakfast.

"Let me guess," I smiled. "She wants to control the lights under her skin."

"How did you know?"

"I figured she'd think of it eventually – once the associated pain had subsided. Being an engineer, she has a practical nature. She probably thinks something like that could be very useful to her."

Katherine gazed at me and shook her head thoughtfully. "Can we do it?"

"Sure. It wouldn't take much to give her full mental control. She could operate them at will; any way she wants."

"How?"

"I've made the implant you'll need to embed in her skull. Place it as close as you can to the other one. It will link with it automatically. However, she'll need to practice, to get full control."

"How long for?"?

"A couple of days, I expect. If I know her, she'll keep at it until she gets it perfect."

"Where's the device?"

"In the little carved wooden box you keep by the bed. Where your jewelry is."

She smiled. "How long has it been there?

"About a month. I'm surprised you hadn't noticed it before."

"When does an overworked doctor get the chance to get all dressed up and wear jewelry?"

"How about tonight then? There's a small seafood place up the coast - about a hundred clicks. We'll fly there."

"If you think for one second, I'm going anywhere in that black monstrosity of yours, you're out of your petite cranium. Anyway, next to you I look frumpy, no matter what I wear. It's demoralizing."

"Not true," I laughed. "I think you look beautiful. I was thinking perhaps an aircar might be a little more appropriate."

"Not the one you painted to look like an ambulance?"

"No."

"And is it carrying nuclear weapons David," she asked suspiciously.

"No sweetheart," I replied innocently.

"That's alright then. Just heavy cannons, I imagine."

"Can we bring Hanna?" I grinned. "She likes fish."

"Over my dead body."

 

12

 

"Do you remember the large room next to the lab?" I asked Katherine. "It's the one where my parents were going to live when the universe collapsed around them."

"Are you joking? You had me wandering around until I was dizzy the first time. All those rooms and hidden doors. It's like a maze down there. However, now you mention it, I do remember a large room next to my lab."

"I thought you might," I laughed.

"Why?"

"Because the security system has noticed you looking for the door to it, on a number of occasions."

"Did it now? How very clever. Would you care to show me where it is? All those white tiles look the same to me."

I nodded. "There's also a smaller room adjoining it."

"Okay," she said slowly. "And?"

"I thought the small room might be a rather convenient place to put our new guests, after you and Ellen have had your fun with them."

Her eyes narrowed in thought for a few moments. "Wouldn't it depend on what I had in mind for them?"

"Or what you and Benita have in mind for them - perhaps."

"Just how much have you worked out?" she asked suspiciously.

"Enough," I laughed. "You'll need at least an eight by eight meter open space, I would imagine. Plus an area on each side for things that get removed from the larger area. Raised seating on two sides would be nice, don't you think? Just in case it's needed."

"How did you guess?"

"The game of chess you play with Benita. The one only you true-bloods know how to play - and me, of course. Who's idea was it? Yours or hers."

"Benita's."

"Quite imaginative. You'll have to start teaching some of our people how to play now. I think, once they understand some of it's finer points, they might want to learn."

"Yes," she replied thoughtfully. "I suppose they will."

I laughed. "Grace thought it was a boring game."

"Perhaps it won't be so boring – with living pieces and real weapons."

  

  

  

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