“Why? Because I’ve always wanted to do something great.” Saret’s voice was filled with barely suppressed excitement. “All our contributions to society, all this –” he waved a hand toward the lab, “– pales in comparison with liberating billions of intelligent beings, with giving them a better life . . . a peaceful life free from terror. I don’t want to be remembered for coming up with yet another way to enhance memories, Mia. I want to be the one to bring peace to Earth.”
“Peace to Earth?” That sounded insane to her. “But we’re not at war with the Krinar –”
“Oh no, getting rid of the Krinar is just the beginning.” Saret laughed. “You see, Mia, I can also give your people a better life. I can make it so you don’t have to spend your few short decades fearing war, drive-by shootings, terrorist attacks . . . I can give you what humans have been dreaming about since the beginning of time: a life free of fear and violence. Wouldn’t you want that, Mia? Wouldn’t you like that for your people?”
“What are you talking about?” Was there such a thing as mental illness among the Ks? Was she stuck here with a madman?
“I know you don’t understand now, but you will – I promise you that.” Saret’s face was almost glowing with fervor. “When your murder rates drop to zero and war is a thing of the past, your world will know that a new era in human history has arrived – and they will thank me for it.”
Mia stared at him, unable to comprehend what he was saying for a minute. Then a horrifying and implausible idea occurred to her. “Saret,” she said slowly, looking at the K known to be one of the greatest mind experts, “are you talking about some kind of mind manipulation for humans?” Please let him laugh and tell me it’s not true. Please don’t let it be true.
Saret gave her a pleased smile, his hand now caressing her arm, making her skin crawl. “Yes, Mia dear, that’s exactly what I’m talking about. I always knew you were bright for your species. You see, over the past few years, I developed and perfected a new technique, a way to monitor certain neural impulses while simultaneously stimulating the pain and pleasure centers of the brain –”
Mia sucked in her breath. “Are you saying –” Her voice broke for a second, and she had to start again. “Are you saying you developed some kind of mind control?”
Now Saret laughed, his brown eyes crinkling with amusement. “No, of course not. Hopefully you’ve learned enough by now to know that true mind control is impossible. No, my technique allows me to direct certain behaviors – to condition the brain, if you will. Every time someone has a violent thought, for instance, I can make them experience pain. Every time they obey me – pleasure. Imagine: an entire planet full of peaceful humans . . . Wouldn’t you want that, Mia?”
What Mia wanted was to throw up. “But how? How can you do something like that on a mass scale?”
Saret grinned, obviously enjoying her reaction. “Well,” he said, “that’s where Rafor and the rest of the Keiths come in. As you probably know, Rafor was nowhere near as good as your cheren at technological design, but he was decent enough to occupy a high position in his father’s company. After Korum put them out of business, poor Rafor was left at loose ends. You see, since he lost his standing, no one else would hire him as a designer, and he was forced to dabble in a variety of subjects that didn’t interest him nearly as much as his original chosen field. He even came to me a couple of years ago, asking if he could do an apprenticeship at the lab.
“I declined, of course. He was nowhere near qualified enough to be here. You weren’t either, being a human and all, but at least you had the passion for the subject. He didn’t even have that.” Saret let out a chuckle. “But, in any case, I did offer him a chance to help me out on a private project, to design the nanocytes I needed to implement the plan. He understood immediately what I was trying to do – it aligned well with his own sympathetic views toward humans – and he did an excellent job creating both the nano design and the dispersion mechanism.”
Mia listened to him intently, hardly daring to breathe. What he was telling her now was so incredible – and so terrifying – that she could barely process what she was hearing.
“Of course, Rafor failed miserably at the first part of the plan,” Saret continued. “He was supposed to get rid of Korum and the rest with the help of the Resistance, but he got caught instead.”
Mia swallowed to get rid of the dryness in her throat. “So you erased their memories,” she guessed, and Saret nodded, smiling.
“I did. I had no choice. It was the only way to protect myself and the rest of the plan. Plus, it did give the Keiths a chance at the trial.”
“So the Protector was right: you were the one all along –”
“He was partially right.” Saret’s smile was bright and happy. “He thought I erased their memories to help Korum, but nothing could be further from the truth. It hindered your cheren’s agenda quite a bit – a nice, if not entirely intentional, side effect of the whole thing.”
“Why do you hate him so much? He thinks of you as a friend –”
The dark-haired K laughed, throwing his head back. “Of course he does – I made sure of that. Only an idiot would want Korum for an enemy. I’ve seen him destroy those who stand in his way, and I’ve never made that mistake.”
“You’re making that mistake now,” Mia cautiously pointed out, glancing at where his fingers were still wrapped around her arm. If Korum were here, Saret would already be dead. If there was one thing she’d learned over the past few weeks, it was just how territorial Krinar males tended to be.
“Oh, because I’m touching his precious charl?” Saret said, his eyes gleaming with a mixture of excitement and some other unidentifiable emotion. “Don’t worry, Mia dear, you won’t be his for long. You’ll be free of him soon. Just as soon as he gets here . . .”
Mia’s blood turned to ice. “Are you –” She had to stop for a second because she couldn’t force the words past the constriction in her throat. “Are you planning to kill him?” she finally managed to say.
“Most likely.” Saret smiled at her again – that same friendly smile that made Mia want to scream. “It would probably be easiest. Of course, I could always try to capture him and put him through the same process as Saur. That would be the ultimate prize: having Korum himself in my control –”
“Saur? You mind-controlled Saur?” Mia stared at him in horrified disbelief. Had Saret actually made his former apprentice attack them in Ormond Beach?
“No.” Saret looked disappointed at her lack of understanding. “Not mind control. I told you that. Mind conditioning. My technique works very subtly. It doesn’t turn people into mindless zombies or whatever it is you’re imagining –”
“But you mind-conditioned Saur to want to kill Korum?”
“I did,” Saret admitted with a look of pride on his face. “It wasn’t easy, believe me. All Krinar have immune system shields that repel nanocytes; it’s something that was developed thousands of years ago after someone tried to use medical nanotechnology in warfare. I was only able to penetrate Saur’s defenses after dozens of physical injections – and even then, the mind-conditioning only worked because Saur was weaker than most. That’s why I wanted the Krinar to leave Earth: because I can’t control them effectively. With humans, it’s much easier. You’re completely unshielded; all I need to do is release the nanocytes into the air in the most populated areas and they’ll find their intended targets.”
Mia’s head was spinning. “So let me get this straight . . . You’re trying to get rid of your own kind so that you can mind-control – or, rather, mind-condition – all the humans on Earth?”
“When you say it that way, it does sound crazy, doesn’t it?” Saret smiled wryly. “But yes, that is indeed what I’m trying to do. I want to bring peace to your people, Mia. Is that such a bad thing? Think about it for a minute. Wouldn’t you want to live in a world where you can walk down the street at night without worrying about getting killed or raped? Where serial killers are the stuff of horror movies, instead of existing in real life? No more school shootings, no more terrorism or war . . . Doesn’t that sound like something you’d want?”