"Hey, Tanya…up for a drink?" Commander Doric asked teasingly.
"Sure," she said, "any other time." She walked away swiftly. The Commander looked after her, shaking his head.
At the comm. port outside of her bunker, she saw the face of the vice-president. She started angrily, "Would you mind telling me why you called me out of my--" then looked at the man more closely. He had blue saggy spots under his eyes, and he looked like he hadn't gotten any sleep in days. "What's going on?" she said in a softer tone.
"I have failed in my duty as protector of the president. Soviet forces took him last night. We have all troops in scramble mode trying to figure out where those Soviets are."
"I suppose you want me to cover for you and find him?" Tanya looked at him sideways.
"I'm beginning to think that you have the psychic powers of Yuri. I want to see you in my office at 03:00."
"Yes, sir."
***
"So…Mister President. How happy I am to see you," Yuri said in his breathy voice.
"I wish I could say the same. What do you want from me?"
"I want nothing from you that I cannot take myself if I wished." He tapped his psychic control device. "You will help me get control of your agent Tanya, who will undeniably come to your rescue. She has a few…how will I put it…unusual abilities."
"What do you mean?"
"Though curiosity won't kill the president, it will hurt him." Yuri tilted his head, and waves of pain wracked the president. When the torture subsided, he glared at Yuri and sat up a little straighter. "Ah, you are a feisty one. All the more enjoyable to control, I assure you. Where shall we begin?"
"I don't really care, myself," the president said in a nonchalant way.
"Is that so? Very well, then. You don't have to do anything, really. I'll just take over from here." The last thing that the president remembered was the horrible feeling of imminent psychic intrusions.
***
"Mr. Vice-president…you have a call from the president!"
"What? Patch it through to my main office viewer."
The president's face appeared on the viewer. The only thing that seemed out of the ordinary was that the muscles in his neck were twitching violently. "Hey there, Jim. No time to chat--I'm on a hidden channel that the soviets will discover soon. I think I have a way to escape this joint-but it will require some help. It'll take a hell of an officer to pull this one off."
The vice-president smiled. "Agent Tanya is on her way."
For a moment there, it seemed to the vice-president as if the president's eyes gleamed in triumph, but it was replaced with a look of the utmost seriousness. "Good. I'll have to get into the main Soviet control room to open the facility doors, so I'll need Tanya to cover my back."
"I'll relay the orders to her right away. One other thing--it's nice to see you alive, Will."
The president grinned and terminated the communication.
***
The president groaned and shook his head, his vision still foggy. He was almost sorry he got up--all he could see was Yuri and that confounded psychic device!
"You see, Mister President? You can be sufficiently manipulated, although your resistance comes in too obvious a form. Did you realize that you were clinching and unclenching your jaw all the way through the transmission?"
"I'm so sorry to have inconvenienced you," he retorted sarcastically. Just before Yuri started beating him with psychic energies, he felt that his jaw was sore.
"I really disapprove of your language, Mister President--try to keep a tighter reign on it." With that, he turned to the door. The president was surprised to see Sophia (the Russian equivalent to Tanya) standing at the door waiting. Before it closed, he could see them talking.
A fine mess I'm in, the president thought to himself. I wonder how Sophia fits in to this…
A red light started blinking on the control panel next to him. On the screen, he saw the words INCOMING MESSAGE ON FREQUENCY E-13 flashing. To his surprise, he felt Yuri trying to psychically invade him again. He held on for about 5 seconds, but was then inundated.
Yuri (now controlling the president) patched the message through on the screen, and was then surprised to find Agent Tanya staring at him.
"I got your message, Mr. President. My boys and I triangulated your position and sent this message through the same carrier wave as yours. We just wanted to let you know that I understand the orders and will be there in 6 hours. See you then!"
END OF MESSAGE flashed on the screen.
The president again regained control of his mind. He felt like strangling Yuri. What the hell is going on?
The door swished open, only to bring Yuri back into the room. "It seems that you received an interesting message, Mister President."
"Is this some sort of joke, Yuri? The only message I've been receiving are your filthy psychic--" That was all he could say before Yuri started the torture again.
After a while, Yuri looked up at him. "You know, Mister President, that you will be free to go in approximately 6 hours."
"Why hold me all this time just to let me go?" Instantly, he regretted it. He bit his lip and braced for torture, but this time Yuri felt generous.
"We Soviets are not all heartless. Maybe we just abducted the wrong person? Not everything revolves around you, Mister President." His cloak flowing, he left the room.
***
"All right, boys…any info from scouting?" Tanya was taking up the standard sentry role: 2 guns in 2 hands and ready for action.
"There's a wasp's nest of conscripts that way," he pointed to the right. "That way, there's a Tesla troop training center," he pointed left. "And that way," he pointed ahead, "is clear as a bell."
"Good working, soldier. Let's pack up and head that way." They started down the path.
A few seconds into the trip, the soldier that had reported to Tanya almost fell over. He complained of a foggy head and blurred vision. A cocky officer came up to Tanya and said, "That's what they all do when they first see you!"
Tanya promptly ordered him to KP and told him that he had to carry the man until he felt better.
***
"Who did you contact then?" Sophia asked Yuri. "It was strange…I saw ripples in the room…"
"That's normal, Sophia. For you to reach your fullest potential, you must learn to defend yourself against and detect psychic emanations." Yuri paused for a moment before saying, "I manipulated a common soldier into reporting falsely to Tanya. She should be in our hands before long."
"What is so special about her?" Sophia asked. "Why do you seek her out? Why can you just not force her to come as you please?"
"Because…she is as you are concerning your power. I am bringing her here to train her."
