Bummer, none have similar traits. Must be from mom’s side. Aw shit, we left the mother on earth cause she’s pregnant. Damn.” He tapped his tablets, cursing about leaving the system.
Mom survived. She was safe… With my little sibling. It would have been nice to be a big sister. Weird to be in college with a new sibling, but in a way that only made the bond more special.
Thoughts of sex sent her into despair. Dad was a cheater. Not just any cheater, but a serial impregnator. Twelve step siblings? TWELVE? That was more seamen than you could stuff into an Ohio Class submarine! When did he even find the time? Dad was always so busy with work and church.
Dad wasn’t just ‘dad’ he was ‘Father Finley’, a bishop of their church-
It all clicked. The late nights he spent at church, ‘offering comfort’ or ‘council’ to the women in his flock. Why the church was mostly women, a solid ratio of seven women for every three men. More than two to one… But all the women had kids. Calling each other brother and sister suddenly took on a new, less altruistic, meaning.
I''ve probably met my step-siblings...
Mother’s inexplicable tears suddenly cleft my heart. Every night she knew where her husband was, with his very own version of Whorely. Crap taste in men might be genetic.
I scowled at that. Remembering how Mom cried herself to sleep while dad was out late ‘stuck at church’. More like stuck in a ho. The affairs had been going on for decades. How did I miss it? How could I not know?
Was I raised in a church? Or a cult?
“Listen here. Felicia can’t hear us right now. Chimera’s like you aint exactly legal to sell. What exactly Kaalra has planned for you is a mystery, but the amount he’s paying means you’re special. And I aint letting no one burn out your skull. So listen. I’m gonna to split your mind three ways then entangle em all together. That ought to keep you running for the next few centuries. Maybe longer if you take advantage of the circumstances and roll with it.”
I scowled at the man, mentally telling him to fellate an elephant and die. Too bad Felicia wasn’t listening.
“Athena, cmon. Look, this is the best deal you’ll ever get! Go along with it and I’ll make sure mom knows you’re safe. Fight me, and I’ll drop a rock on her. Parting out pregnant ladies is messy, but profitable. Work with me here, give me every reason to keep her alive. Earth’s in the shit, but the singularity took over your continent. One message to the higher ups and I’ll have your whole family marked as psychically intriguing. Potential military assets. That’ll keep em safe. Felicia’s already made arrangements, if you cooperate, then you’ll end up in three separate bodies. Tell no one about that. Chimeras are outlawed, if Kaalra finds out he’ll murder you and your whole family, half siblings too. Then push Earth into the sun to be sure. Nameless like him don’t know what a half measure is.”
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Fear illuminates Jim’s eyes, as if the very thought of this ‘Kaalra’ terrifies him. “Athena, girl, I’m begging you, don’t fuck with the nameless caste. All that bullshit about becoming farmers and generals of the Singularity? Aint gonna happen. Except for a few dozen fringe cases like you.”
-I take Syrak-9. We have five years to take the game world. Called game because the nameless caste demanded their vassal states send a legion to fight and die on it each year. Earth wasn’t being drafted, they were being sacrificed in a meatgrinder so other planets did not have to sacrifice their sons and daughters.
“Aint pretty. But you” Jim jabbed a finger at my chest, “can win Athena Finley. Find a way. I’ll keep your mother safe, buy her a nice guardian AI. State of the art with a cold fusion reactor and hidden plasma cannons. She’ll never want for anything. A bot like that can do more than the dishes, just think about it, having one of the most intelligent beings in all of creation guide her through the galaxy. Do we have a deal?” He whispered.
I want to accept, but the neural interface speaks for me in a stilted facsimile. “Flash training will lobotomize me. How can I keep a promise?”
Jim snorts. “Flashtraining will wear off a cracked-head like yours. Accept it for a few days. Don’t fight it, the machines push harder if you resist so fighting it will cause brain damage. Bad idea. Besides, there’s no need, you’ll eventually break it naturally. When you come to, do NOT talk to the doctors. Continue playing your role. Be the person you are paid to be.”
I weigh the odds quickly. Making the right decision on the drop of a dime is a skill of mine. Maybe I acquired it playing endless tournaments of 1v1 Starcraft. A talent that serves me well here. Jim has no incentive to help me, but there are no better alternatives. I lose nothing by agreeing today. If he does give mom a guardian AI, she’ll eventually figure it out, and force it to find me, something I can facilitate by agreeing.
“Make the AI look like me. Otherwise she’ll never be satisfied. I’m the only one she can really trust, just look at dad…”
"I’m just doing my job. We never met, we never spoke, and your mom will be safe for the rest of her life. Which will be extended, I wasn’t lying about the Singularity upgrading earth, we dropped off the gates. Entrepreneurs will probably dial Earth in a few months and start selling goodies at a hundred times the market value. But your mom will get the finest nanotech this side of the galactic nexus, once I get paid. Gotta keep my word. Nanites can clear out most diseases and ninety percent of aging related issues. Your mom will live a few centuries longer.”
>Neural nodes networked.
>Hive mind accepted.
>Flashtraining commencing…