Stranger From the Sky, chapter 11

Control

{{I am very unsure about this, daughter,}} Linked Alpha, {{but I do see the logic in your argument. We cannot hide from these Prime warriors forever. It is perhaps best if we initiate contact in as peaceful a manner as possible.}}

{{Of course, Father Alpha. And what better, more peaceful way can there be but by helping one of them? It just makes sense. Besides, you've been wanting to meet Miss Kitten for some time now; I understand her father will be there, too. She said he knows something about this sort of thing. So you'll be accomplishing two things you wished to do simultaneously. Very logical.}}

{{I suppose. Well, shall we go?}} Alpha, of course, was not going in person, but by means of a "solidogram", and kind of force-field solid hologram, a virtual presence, that would report back everything he would see and hear—and then some-were he there himself. Angelique was simply going to teleport.

They materialized in the Titans' main conference hallway. Kitten and Killer Moth were already there. "Father Alpha, this is Miss Kitten, although she calls herself Devil Cat in public. And this is her dad, Mr. Killer Moth."

Killer Moth's multifaceted eyes took in the alien form before him: the pale white skin, the bulbous head—and most of all, the air of authority he exuded. There was no doubt at all who was in charge when Alpha was around.

For his part, Alpha took in the winged moth-man before him, his large black eyes showing no expression. But behind those eyes, he truly wondered why any man, any being, would deliberately mutate himself into this.

Well. Humans had strange customs and even stranger passions. That was not the reason he was here.

The Titans assembled in the conference room. Among them was the one called Omega, the Prime warrior. Alpha's eyes widened, and then narrowed. So. This was the Prime warrior his daughter had been associating with. Yet, by all accounts, he had not displayed the mindless destructiveness that Prime warriors were infamous for….

Alpha's solidogram walked up to Omega. "You would be the one called Omega, would you not?"

Omega gave Alpha a short bow. "Yes, sir, I am."

Alpha tilted his head first one way, then another, studying this creature before him. "I am somewhat unsure as to what to make of you. In our libraries, Prime warriors, as you came to be called, were described as not to be trusted. They were described as being virtually mindless engines of destruction, with very little self-control. Unstable, mentally. Yet, from what I am currently observing, and from what I have heard and gathered from various sources, you do not seem to fit that pattern."

"From what I was told, Osiran Thinkers were emotionless biological computing machines, with no real thoughts or ambitions of their own. They simply existed to serve the Lords as organic computers. From what I have observed, and am observing now, that does not seem to be the case."

Kitten broke in. "Wait a minute. You were both told that? By whom?"

"The Lords," they chorused.

Kitten's face took on a triumphant look. "Am I the only one who sees a kind of a pattern here?"

Alpha spoke up first. "You….may have a point there, young one. May I say I am impressed with your insight?" He turned back to Omega. "It may well be that we were both…. deliberately misinformed, in an effort to prevent a mutual alliance. I shall have to research the matter more.

"But for now. I understand this other Prime warrior regards you as a Lord?"

"Yes, sir, she does."

"And you wish to alter that?"

Omega spread his hands. "Somehow, I don't know how, I broke the conditioning of the Lords. But Athena did not, and now her actions….well, let's just say I find them objectionable. Or really efficient for her integration into the group."

"May we see?"

"Of course. Athena, attend me." And just like that, Athena was again at his side. "My Lord." He nodded to her. She once again assumed the extremely suggestive posture of complete subservience, kneeling before him, legs spread, head on the ground. "Stand up, Athena." Of course, she complied. "You may return to your room for the moment."

"As my Lord commands." And she left.

Killer Moth was clearly disturbed. "That—that posture she assumed….it looked awfully, uhm, that is to say, I mean to say….."He hated to come right out and say it right in front of his daughter, let alone the other females in the group.

"Sexual," finished Omega. He told them about some separate cultures, and the odd conditioning in terms of positions of subservience that was required of female warriors, and the reasons why.

"Okay," said Killer Moth, "That's just plain sick and wrong. I mean, to, to be required to do that…..that's just not right."

Alpha was silent for a moment. Then, "I believe I may know something that could explain some of her behavior, in particular this behavior. In our libraries, there is information of the beginnings of a civil war between the Lords. Evidently, some lesser Lords tried to secede from the whole of the Osiran civilization, to elevate themselves above their status, to create their own Empire. They were considered rogues; criminals, as they did not follow the commands of the Osirus or any other of the legitimate Lords. And there were rumors of….unlawful excesses they indulged in, not standard—or in any way acceptable-Lord behavior.

"So tell me, Omega: which Lord did you serve?"

"I served the Nebul, one of the lesser Lords."

"Do you know which Lord this 'Athena' served?"

"The Natal."

Alpha thought, not only remembering, but actively Linking with the Kindred's library. "Both of those were leaders of the rebellion. And, yes, both were rumored to've indulged in…excesses…with those who served under them. Particularly the Natal. The Natal much more so than the Nebul. In fact," he began, "it was rumored that the Natal was not…..completely sane. Our libraries state that he was personally killed by a renegade Prime warrior." And here he looked hard at Omega.

Omega spoke up, not pridefully, but softly, simply stating a fact. "That warrior stands before you now. At one point I….found I could no longer tolerate his vices. I…did not know his abuse of Athena was one of them, at the time." His face and voice took on a different tone altogether. "Had I known….the manner of his passing would have been a good deal less pleasant for him."

Alpha looked at him for a long, long time. Could this be, in fact, the renegade Prime warrior who had killed Lords? A being from the Age of Legends? And yet…somewhere, deep down, he believed it. It increased both his respect of this particular warrior…..and his fear.

For after all, if this was true, he was looking at every Osiran's nightmare: a berserker warrior with no controls. Except for those between his own ears.

And he was looking at every Osiran's private dream: a free individual.

Killer Moth joined them, oblivious to Alpha's private thoughts. "I've an idea. I've, er, dealt with control functions of various creatures somewhat. Perhaps, just perhaps I may be able to offer some insight. Is there any way we could get brain scans of both warriors?"

Alpha looked thoughtful. "They are invulnerable. But perhaps there may be a way. Perhaps a tachyon scan….much of the warriors' invulnerability involves blocking high-energy attacks, impacts, and energy. But with tachyons, which travel faster than light, the lower the energy of the particle, the faster it moves. It may be a way of bypassing their defense mechanisms and screens."

They took them both to the Kindred Hive. Theta was there to greet them. She was obviously nervous about being in the same room with not one, but two genuine Osiran Prime warriors, but she nonetheless came up to them, overcoming her fears, at least momentarily. {{How do you do? I am called Theta. You must be the one they call Omega? And this is Athena?}} Her fear was evident in the Link.

Omega bowed low, in respect. {{Yes, Ma'am. I am called Omega, and this is Athena. It is a pleasure to meet you. Your daughter has told us much about you, and I looked forward to this meeting.}}

{{You…did?}}

{{Yes, ma'am. You have done an excellent job in raising her, in light of the absence of her biological mother, who, frankly, I do not believe could have done a better job. Humans, I've noticed, sometimes have…problems that interfere with their ability to perform certain needful tasks. Your daughter—for so she is, regardless of biology—has been very respectful of authority, that is, overall.}} He smiled. {{Children will occasionally disobey their parents, but, honestly, this to be expected, to some degree. And, she has been very helpful to us, in the Titans. I truly believe that, had she not intervened on Apokolips, very few of us, if any, would have survived. You have good reason to be proud of her. I would be, were she mine.}}

Theta was stunned. She'd always heard that Prime warriors were little more than mindless beasts, but this one was actually acting in a civilized manner. And he hadn't moved to attack anyone…. {{Well, I thank you. But I cannot take sole credit in raising her. There is another here, whom you haven't met, called Delta. She played a major role, too.}}

Alpha "spoke" up. {{Enough. Omega, Athena. You will follow me.}} Killer Moth had accompanied them, but was unable to hear any of the Linked conversation. He could, of course deduce some of what was being said, and when Alpha motioned for the two warriors to accompany him, he fell in right behind.

Alpha led them to a large room, with a somewhat contoured table surrounded by sensors and projectors. {{Omega. You are to go first. Lie down upon the table, and we will begin.}}

…..

It took a lot of effort, but both Alpha and Killer Moth had the patience for it. Quite a number of times, they would think they were almost on the brink of success, only to have some unknown factor in the warriors' shields somehow interfere with getting a perfect scan of what was precisely going on inside the warriors' brains. "It's gotta be brain-based," muttered Killer Moth. "Nothing else fits." And so they kept at it. Finally, they got what appeared to be a clear brain scan of Omega's brain. It seemed to be characterized by four lobes, which surprised Alpha. "This is definitely not Osiran norm," he muttered, with the help of his voice-reproducer he'd developed for communication with humans. Osiran norm was two lobes.

Several hours later, Alpha and Killer Moth were looking at brain scans of both warriors. Alpha shook his head. "I see no significant difference between the two. Aside from those involving male/female functions, of course."

Killer Moth looked hard at the scans. "We're looking for something very subtle. Look here." He directed Alpha's attention to one particular area of the Osiran brain. "Say. Do you have the ability, here, to read flash drives?"

"Flash drives? No, but it is a simple matter to build one." And Alpha thought, Linking in with the Osiran matrix matter/energy manipulator. Directly below the main control panel, the substance of it seemed to melt, forming into a flash drive portal. Killer Moth inserted the flash drive into the slot thus created.

The screens now showed the brain scans of various insects, ants and termites in particular. "Now, remember, most insects communicate by chemicals, pheromones, and such. BUT….those chemicals affect certain parts of the brain, the central nervous system, enforcing the wishes and will of the hive, correct?"

"It would seem so."

"And don't take offense, but Osiran society really more resembled an insect colony that anything like any society here on Earth, did it not?"

"I do not take offense, for you are correct. I fail to see how this helps, however."

"Look at these scans of ant and termite brains. The chemicals that command them affect a certain area of the brain, right? And you see the neuroelectrical patterns, correct?"

"Yes…" Alpha was beginning to see.

"So what we have to look for is a similar pattern in the Osiran brain. It won't be caused by chemicals, of course, but the pattern should be similar. Not identical, nor in the same area, you understand, but just similar."

"Hm," muttered Alpha's voice-box. "I…begin to see. This pattern, here," and he pointed to a brain scan of Athena's brain. "It links with the area of the brain that controls habits and unconscious behavior. Not completely, but similar. But it would fit. She has an automatic habit of responding to a Lord's command. It has been designed so that it does not rely on conscious thought. Therefore, it is not in the area of conscious thought. I wish we had more test subjects…..but notice: this same area in Omega's brain shows a different pattern. One not linked to habitual behavior."

"And," responded Killer Moth triumphantly, "we know that Omega broke free of the Lord's control, even to the point where he was able to kill a Lord here on Earth. And those areas are basically the only areas that show any significant difference in the two brain scans. That is, other than the gender-specific ones we've already identified and eliminated."

Alpha looked up at the human with newfound respect. "You do know a great deal about the control features of various beings. I can only hope you are correct in your deductions." In the back of his mind, he was wondering if it would be a good idea to, should the process work, have each of the Kindred undergo it. He'd long ago decided he liked being in control of his own destiny. That a Lord should come along and highjack that was an unpleasant prospect to him. "But there is one aspect of this process we have not considered."

"Oh? What's that?"

"What if Athena does not wish to be free of the control of the Lords? After all, it is all she has known, all her life. We must ask her."

Kitten went to the room at the hive assigned to Athena, already preparing what she was going to say. After all, she was the closest to Omega, in terms of association, so Athena ought to Obey her. Plus, it simply made Omega uncomfortable, her total and absolute submission to him as a Lord. But Kitten figured she should have no trouble with the Osiran zombie Athena had become, at least temporarily.

She entered the room. "Athena?" she said in a clear voice, "Can you hear me?"

Athena looked puzzled, sitting there on the floor in her usual kneeling posture. "Of course, Kitten. I can hear you. Is something wrong, that I should not?"

Kitten stared. She'd been anticipating a mindless, sleepwalking being, who'd have to be issued clear verbal commands, backed up by her close association with Athena's Lord. But this…. "Are—are you alright?"

"Of course, Kitten. Is there some reason I should not be?" Athena was frowning.

Kitten sat down by Athena on the floor. "Athena. What do you remember about yesterday? In particular, about Omega?"

Athena shrugged, a gesture she'd picked up from the humans around her. "I discovered he was a Lord. I remember him summoning me, to attend him. Then he gave me leave to return to this room. That is all I remember."

"You don't remember…..getting any mustard for Starfire?"

"No, Kitten, I do not. Commands issued by one's Lord are to be obeyed automatically; there is little point in remembering them. The commands must be obeyed anyway; why bother to remember one's actions? Only the initial and terminal commands themselves are to be remembered. At least, that was the way it came to be considered, in the latter days of the Empire."

"You don't remember….bowing to him?"

"No, but it is not uncommon, in some cases, to not remember such things. Not in all cases, but in some."

"So you don't remember how you bowed?"

A puzzled look. "No. Any such memories will only resurface in the presence of a Lord. There is no need to remember them any other time."

Sniffling, Kitten threw her arms around a puzzled Athena, tears starting from her eyes. "Oh, What's been done to you, girl?"

"I—I don't understand. You seem to be in distress regarding me. But there is nothing wrong with me. I am fine. Please. Do not…..worry so." And she patted the human girl on her back, a gesture she'd seen humans do, trying to reassure her.

Kitten drew back and dried her eyes. Okay. Time to get down to business. "Athena. We'd like to run a procedure on you. Your Lord has commanded it, through me." She took a deep breath. "We want to free you from the control of the Lords."

Athena looked shocked. "But—but why would my Lord want to free me from his control? Have—have I done something to displease him?" There was a kind of desperate quality to this last question that did something to Kitten; she found herself feeling sorry for Athena.

She once again threw caution to the wind and put her arms around the Osiran girl. "Oh, Athena! It's not anything you've done! But something's been done to you, something horrible, and we want to try to fix that. So will you let us?"

Athena had, unconsciously, put her arms around Kitten, being careful, as always, when dealing with humans, to exert only the lightest pressure. "I—if that is the wish and will of my Lord, then I will comply with your orders, my Lady."

"Okay. Come on." And Kitten led Athena down the hallway, towards the Kindred laboratory.

"What we can try for," Killer Moth was saying, "is not so much to neutralize those brain wave patterns entirely, and thus eliminate them, but to produce a standing wave that will interfere with them. Obviously, if they don't work the way they were supposed to, there will be no automatic control. Also, this way, hopefully, at least, should these patterns prove to have other functions, vital functions, perhaps those functions will not be hampered, at least not beyond our ability to fix. Ah, here she is. Uh, Athena, did my daughter explain what we want to do?"

"She did. I am still not sure why, but I will comply with the wishes and the will of my Lord."

"You are acting in accordance with my wishes and my will." Omega had entered the room and was standing over by a table, out of the way of the machines.

"My Lord," said Athena, going up to him and beginning that peculiar bowing motion, "No," he said, "You do not need to bow to me today, Athena"

"But it is required."

Omega turned to Kitten. "Kitten, would you leave us to discuss something for a moment?"

"Like what?"

"Something extremely delicate. And, and...not nice."

She crossed her arms. "No, I won't. I think I know what you're gonna ask her, and I wanna know the answer as much as you." Her tail switched back and forth, stinger retracted

"Then that is….as you will have it. Athena. You remember what you read in Raven's book about the mating practices of humans?"

"Of course."

"While you were in his service, did the Lord Natal, or any other Lord he associated with—or any other being associated with them….do something similar to you?"

"But of course. Many times. It was, after all, their right as Lords." Kitten paled a bit, turning a lighter shade of red. Killer Moth started; Alpha showed no reaction at all.

Omega's eyes narrowed to slits of red. Kitten looked at him nervously; ever since her transformation, she'd found she could now tolerate a much higher heat level than most humans, but she could still feel the palpable waves of heat emanating from his eyes. Or maybe it was just her imagination. "How many times?"

"I did not keep count, My Lord," and here, her face took on a thoughtful look, "but it was at least several hundred times. Maybe close to a thousand. Perhaps more. But that is only a guess. When not in the presence of a Lord, such memory fades, as is only proper."

Omega walked over to where the others were. His words were clipped, forceful, and intense. "Such activity was never considered 'proper' by any of the other Lords, including the Nebul, whom I served. I think it obvious we are dealing with more than just a rogue Lord here." There was a dangerous intonation in his voice that Kitten picked up on instantly. Omega was beside himself, internally.

"C'mon, Omega, you've learned what you came here to learn. Now come on." She took him by the arm, and, although he massed as much as a steamroller, she was able to lead him down the hallway to his room. Sat him down on his bunk, and sat beside him. She could tell he was still enraged; she could literally feel the rage building up within him. And she remembered that Osirans don't have a lot of control over their own emotions, due mostly to the Lords' controlling them that very way, by means of controlling their emotions. As a result, they, the warriors themselves, especially, didn't have a whole lot of experience in self-control. And an out-of-control Osiran could mean a whole new quantum level of ugly. She wondered if that might have contributed to the Kindred's library entries on Prime warriors. "That's a lotta…times." She said, as a beginning.

"That's a lot of rapes. Rapes of my friend." He spoke quietly enough, and while he wasn't shaking with anger, she rather wished he was, right then. She remembered that time when he'd thrashed Kalibak, but had been prevented from killing him: the emotional outburst he'd radiated had KO'd Raven nearly a thousand miles away. She could feel the emotions building up inside him….what to do about them? He was, literally, a time bomb. Unless she found a way to defuse him, he'd go off again, and there was no telling what the effect would be, especially this close to everyone. But what to do? "The Natal was one Lord I personally killed, with my own hands." He looked again at his hands. "With these hands I broke him. His death was not pleasant, but it was quick. But had I known then what I know now, his death would have been a good deal less pleasant than it was. And a great deal slower."

"Hey, I'm with you on that." She could still feel the emotional a-bomb building up inside him. Get him to talking. "But tell me: should we be successful at breaking the control conditioning issue, will she remember those…incidences?"

His face took on a haunted look. "I—I don't know. It's possible."

"So…she'll remember being used like that, all those times?"

"It's possible." The misery in his face and voice was clearly evident.

"Omega…she's gonna need all the friends she can get. And right now, that's not a great many. I mean, there's you, and me, and…..who else? I sure don't think we can count on Raven, or Beast Boy, or Hank. And Robin and Starfire…I dunno. Cyborg? Maybe. But she's especially gonna need you, mostly 'cause you're just about the only Osiran who's never taken advantage of her like that." She rubbed her hand across his back. "She's just plain gonna need support." She paused and shuddered. "I just can't imagine how I'd feel if I something like that had happened to me."

"If I found out something like that had happened to you, whoever was responsible would, even now, be praying to whatever deity they believe in, for a quick and merciful end. And end that I would personally see to it would not come. Perhaps for many years."

"Well," she smiled, "Seems like you're not the universe's ultimate Dudley Do-Right I once thought you were."

"To use a phrase I've heard you employ frequently, damn straight no. Where those I love are concerned, I am most definitely not."

Omega communicator went off. "We're about to begin the procedure. Care to come and observe?"

To be continued…