Stranger From the Sky, chapter 10

Developments

At the door to Athena's room, Omega hesitated. Was he really ready for this? This would be an emotional and psychological showdown that could easily turn into a physical throwdown. What would he say, what would he do?

Well, he'd just have to, as Beast Boy would say, "wing it."

He signaled for entrance. "Enter," said a voice from within.

He entered, and began talking fast. "Listen, Athena, I don't know why you feel such a hatred for me; I admit your accusations were correct; I did cause the death of many Lords, I—*" But he got no further.

For Athena had prostrated herself before him in an attitude of abject worship. "My Lord," she said, in a somewhat dreamy voice muffled by the floor her face was pressed against, "I have wronged you, and I deserve death for my actions. You have commanded me to live, and so live I shall. I shall live for you. You are my Lord now, and I am yours to do with as you see fit. My life, my body, my mind, all that I have, all that I am, is yours. Do with me as you will. For I am your willing servant."

But it was the way in which she bowed before him that had Omega backing up, like a human in a horror movie, reaching for the doorknob, and, failing to find it, simply phasing out of the room altogether.

Kitten was sitting, miserable, back in Omega's room. Her preternaturally sharp senses were in a state of high alert, and she was sitting right by the general alarm button, so that when she heard the first sounds of mayhem, she could summon the others. She only hoped they'd get there in time.

And then a completely unharmed but even more disturbed looking Omega phased back into the room. Apparently, Osirans just naturally phased through objects classified as "doors" without even thinking about it, especially, she'd noticed, when they were stressed out about something, or their minds were on something else. "I think," he began, a bit unsteadily, it seemed to her, "things just got a little bit more complicated."

…

"So you're saying that now she's convinced you're a Lord?" Robin asked. They were all assembled around the main conference table; Athena was conspicuously absent.

"Yes. I don't know why…I mean, I did give her commands, and only Lords can do that, as far as I know, but she should see that I do not fit the physical qualifications for a Lord. It ought to be clearly evident."

"Well, forgive me for being Captain Obvious here," began Beast Boy, "but doesn't this sorta solve the whole problem? I mean, now she's gotta do whatever you say. And she can't try to kill you anymore—you said it was against Osiran law—so, I mean, where's the problem?"

Omega sighed, something he sometimes did for effect, since he didn't really need to breathe. "The problem, Beast Boy, is that she has gone from being my equal—albeit a murderous one—to being my slave. And…more than just that. Something I hesitate to mention in…polite company. I have…issues, you might say…with either condition."

"I understand," spoke up Starfire in her usual soft voice, "why you would not wish her to be your slave. Slavery was common with the Gordanians, and I was to be taken to their planet to be a slave, to be a prize, forever. I would not wish that on anyone. But why would she wish this upon herself?"

Omega leaned forward, hands clasped in front of him. "It has to do with the structure of our society, and the conditioning imposed upon warriors towards the last of it, at least as I remember it. The Lords dominated everyone, warriors, Thinkers, and any conquered people we came across. And we came across a good many." He paused. "The word, the concept of actual slavery didn't really exist, you understand. The Lords simply gave commands, and we obeyed them. You call it slavery; we called it normal. The notion of true freedom, of doing whatever one wants, answering to no one, simply did not exist in our culture. We were taught, conditioned, programmed even, to obey. Simply that: obey. What you call the concepts of 'right' and 'wrong' simply did not exist for us. If they had, then 'right' would have been to obey the Lords; 'wrong' would've been to disobey."

"And now she thinks you're a Lord."

"Yes. She will do whatever I say, no matter whether I command her or not. And…there is something more, more than I feel comfortable sharing with the group at this point." His face twisted. "And I do not wish it that way! I, I would like to go back to being…..the way we were."

Robin spread his hands. "Omega…that may be impossible. Or at least improbable, to say the least. Maybe even undesirable. I mean, she can't try to kill you anymore; wasn't that the main problem? So I'm still not sure I really see your problem."

"Oh, you don't, do you?" There was a tension in Omega's voice. Humans could be so dense sometimes. And he did have a temper, although he normally controlled it well. He had to. An out-of-control Osiran was pretty much all their worst nightmares. Including his own. "So. You just can't take my word for it. I suppose I can't really blame you; you aren't used to societies as alien as mine was to yours. Well then, allow me to demonstrate precisely what I meant by the 'something more'." Angelique was not present, for which he was glad. He turned his head, and spoke in a normal tone of voice. "Athena. Attend me."

Athena appeared almost like magic, standing in front of him. He nodded to her, without saying a word.

Also without a word, she bowed low, her arms outstretched, her butt sticking up in the air, her knees spread quite far apart. There was an obvious sexuality to her posture that the others couldn't help but notice. Most of the males in the group stirred uneasily, as did a couple of the females. There was absolutely no mistaking the gesture. Her face was completely obscured by the position she was in. Omega resolutely refused to look at her. "Now," he said. "Starfire, here, is out of mustard. Please get her some." Again, without a word, Athena got up and, at a speed so fast none of them could even see her, rummaged through the pantry, collecting several plastic containers of Starfire's favorite beverage, and went and placed them before her. It was as if they just appeared, by magic. Her attitude was one of complete servitude.

Then she went back to Omega and stood before him. "How else may I serve my Lord today?" The last was not said in any mocking way, but in a dreamy, almost hypnotized voice that indicated a sincere desire to please her master.

"I think that will be all for now. You may return to your room. I will summon you if I need you for anything." And with that, she left, phasing soundlessly through the doors.

Omega turned to the group. "People, that's not the Athena I knew. This is like she's been….I don't know, what you call brainwashed or something. And I think all of you saw the ….'something else' I was talking about."

The others were silent for a while. It was one thing to talk about someone so thoroughly conditioned, it was quite another to see it action. It had shaken several of them to the core, Starfire and Terra especially. "What was that," began Terra, "where she, sorta, I mean, like, stuck her butt up in the air? That didn't look exactly like….I mean, that looked sorta like ….I mean, it looked exactly like….uhm, I dunno quite how to put it…."

"In the latter days of the empire, in some different cultures than I was in, it was rumored—never verified, you understand—that some Lords desired for their more attractive female warriors to…..make themselves…available, shall we say….to them. Of course, no reproduction would result, the genetic differences between the castes being too different, but the idea was-*"

"We get the damned idea," boiled Kitten, "Do you seriously mean to tell us that things had gone…..that far?"

He shrugged, despondently. "You saw. The Osira I remember was a completely desexualized society, but, evidently, in some decadent enclaves, what you might term the pleasures of the flesh had been rediscovered, and, worse, apparently by those in a perfect position to misuse them. Greatly. I didn't ask her to assume that particular position—you saw that, too—I only nodded to her, acknowledged her presence there before me—and you saw the rest. I think she must've come from a somewhat different cultural enclave or society than I did, or perhaps was subjected to some sort of reconditioning at a later time, since their assuming that particular position—only for female warriors, I might add-was definitely not the norm where I was, before I was….to be executed.

"But you also saw, I hope, the total subservience that characterized one devoted to the Lords. That is not the Athena I knew. I….want her back. I'd…..really rather have the one back who wanted to kill me than this…..hypersexualized flesh and blood robot."

"So," began Robin, "Just how do we go about doing that?"

Omega rubbed his eyes. Osirans can't cry—they lack the tear ducts for it—but Omega's face hurt when he got emotional like this. Kitten recognized the signs and tried to comfort him as best she could. "I….honestly do not know."

"Well, I know," spoke up Kitten. "It's obvious. We have to break that damned conditioning, somehow." And she smiled a downright wicked smile. "And I know just the people who can help us."