Total pages in book: 149
Estimated words: 138217 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 691(@200wpm)___ 553(@250wpm)___ 461(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 138217 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 691(@200wpm)___ 553(@250wpm)___ 461(@300wpm)
Memories crashed through Theo’s mind of all the doors she’d opened, all the accidents she’d caused, all the responsibility she’d accepted, all the guilt she’d carry to the end of her days. Because knowing that she’d never had a choice didn’t wash away the blood he’d put on her hands. “I’m happy he’s dead.”
Keja’s smile was deeper, more real. “I would’ve preferred to do it myself, but—” Another shrug. “Can’t say it worked out all bad. I’d come out of the last of the fog a year or so before his assassination—”
“Wait, is that another glitch in the procedure?” Theo asked. “The fact that it wears off? I started to disobey him around sixteen.”
“Yes. Not on subjects like Nene and Santo—there just isn’t enough left for a recovery.” Cold rage in those familiar eyes. “The good doctor downgraded you in her files after you began to act out—from Alpha Variant to Sub-optimal Variant B.” Rage or not, Keja’s tone was dry, as if she had humor in her, this woman who wasn’t supposed to exist. “I’m sure you are most devastated.”
“Why did you wait a year to act?”
“Security,” Keja said. “Place was locked down. I had to plan—and I was in no immediate danger at the time, since Father continued to keep me around like a pet dog. I also wanted it so that when I did exit, they’d never find me again. Then someone blew Father dearest to bits.”
Throwing back her head, she laughed. “You should’ve seen the panic among the staff, Theo! Headless gerbils scuttling and scrambling. Janine had already sprung me from the locked room by then—once I realized what was going on, I had to go hide in a broom closet to get my urge to laugh under control. After the first panic, though, the doctor decided that since they had the funding, they should continue their ‘work’ until they received further instructions from Father’s successor.”
Keja flicked a glance at Yakov, her attention back on Theo before Theo could move a muscle. “I decided on a change of plan. In the confusion, the doc forgot to inform the rest of the staff that I was supposed to be locked up, and they’d long ago stopped paying attention to me.
“I was furniture that could walk and do menial tasks. So I just drugged them all through the kitchen. They had me working in there, can you believe it? Idiots. I’d been hoarding medication for months, had a special spot in the grounds where I buried it.
“Janine, the others, they gave me their meds, too, because I always snuck them treats from the kitchen. The staff just fell asleep.” A faint smile. “Of course, not everyone drank their nutrients at the same time, but it wasn’t hard to eliminate the holdouts once I had a weapon. The perimeter guards always got their nutrients first, you see. Had to be in top shape to protect the facility.”
Keja, too, Theo realized, had never had anyone to whom to boast about her exploits. And Theo wasn’t only a captive audience, she was an enthralled one. “Then what? Wouldn’t there have been a second shift? A third?”
“Just two. Twelve-hour shifts,” Keja clarified. “After we dragged the first lot into a room and I used my new access to the injectables to make sure they’d never wake up, I dressed up in security gear to belay suspicion at the gate. I also got Janine and a few others who were a touch more functional to change into staff scrubs, so the new shift wouldn’t immediately wonder where everyone was.”
She winced. “It did end up a tad bloody, but I had all the weapons and I had Nene. Santo and Queenie locked the doors while the staff weren’t looking. Rats in a maze. Stupid, scared rats so conditioned by Father on the importance of strict confidentiality—conditioning he reinforced by making it known that the punishment for any disclosure was death—that they never even squeaked for help on the PsyNet.”
Theo could imagine the staff’s terror as the conscious ones were picked off one by one, but she still couldn’t make herself pity them. Unlike her and Keja, the staff members had made a choice to assist in the brutalization of countless others. “I can’t believe Grandfather sacrificed a teleporter to his ambitions.” Teleport-capable Tks weren’t exactly thick on the ground—and Janine was a 6.1!
“Wonder of wonders, bastard did actually admit that to be a mistake. Their initial protocol involved focusing on people with a specific brainwave pattern, and Janine was unlucky enough to display that.
“Father was so consumed by the project at the time that he green-lit her acquisition for the procedure. Poor Nene. She thought she was coming in for a mandatory health check. Instead, they killed the crisp and martial Janine she was when she walked through the door, and left our sweet Nene in her place.”