Beth

Learning how to use her powers had enticed her scholar’s heart of ambition, but Beth had not forgotten about escape. Or could it be Saif’s seeds and weedy vines influencing the direction of her thoughts? There was no way of knowing. Saif had clearly demonstrated that she couldn’t use her strength to hurt him, but could he stop her from hurting inanimate objects? The chains had broken when enough mental force had been applied. But the soft vines simply adapted to any force she tried. Did Saif’s proximity affect the speed and strength of the vines? She needed an elegant solution. Back at the university they were often thrown impossible black box problems, everyone who came up with a close enough solution was rewarded. She solved almost all of them.

To quantify intelligence was difficult. There existed a division on Callisto focused to study the brain and also methods to enhance it. One of the mandatory courses for the first two years had been about the subject. Mental strength didn’t translate into intelligence. But could she adapt her strength to be applied in a clever way? Thoughts could not be pulled away from the vines. What if she sliced away parts of them? And then accumulated them into one thought. Beth paced around the small room during day three hundred and ten. Motion helped thinking. All theories had to be put onto the anvil. Sweetness flooded and muscles itched with restlessness. The flow of energy emerged from the feet and moved up and into her fist. Beth’s fist froze a moment before impacting the wall. The vines restricted her actions. She slumped down and sighed.

A scalpel was sharp enough, but potentially too slow. Scissors would be faster. Her arms could suit as the tool. But how would she merge the pieces together? A stew? No, too slow. The vines had time to adapt. Simpler and faster. Shove them together and hope for the best. Act now. The vines had to be surprised.

With closed eyes she dove into her mind. A large mass looking like cotton candy was the absolute collection of all her thoughts. New thoughts formed as smaller wads of the material grew out from the main mass. Seeds were rooted along the surfaces. Additional vines sprouted from the seeds and snaked around with purpose, looking for something. Patrolling for new thoughts to control.

Beth stood underneath the giant mass of cotton candy, feeling insignificant. She imagined her arms to be the blades of a cutting tool. Pieces of exposed and uncontrolled thoughts were cut off by her arms. She clumped them together. Vines noticed her and charged. But she didn’t hesitate. Sweetness returned and she punched the wall. Her knuckles connected and the wall cracked down the middle. On the second punch the wall fell and dust blinded her briefly.

“Mom!” Beth yelled.

Mom coughed harshly, but managed an embrace.

“Let’s leave this place,” Beth said.

The vines snaked around her throat. She gasped for air in the real world. A knot formed in her stomach. Vision grew foggy as the vines relentlessly pushed her towards unconsciousness. She crashed down onto her knees. Mom’s eyes were already dreamy where she was lying by Beth’s side. Beth reached for the sweetness of power, but neither metal skin nor super strength could help her from suffocation. She convulsed and tried to stay awake. No. The sweetness retreated and dragged her power away.

“I like this. Giving her a false sense of hope, a nice injected thought. Maybe we should try this method with the others. They should also become easier to handle. Breaking them down,” General Jacob said.

“I agree,” Saif said, standing next to the General.

Oxygen returned but the exhaustion stayed. The vines returned to patrol and control her mind. Fatigue made her weak. Saif smiled, probably fully aware of her thoughts and how she had tried to circumvent his control.

“Saif. It is time to punish her. We cannot have her trying to escape every other day,” Jacob said. “If we cut off her worldly attachments, will she be more determined to escape or will she succumb to our control indefinitely?”

Beth froze. Jacob had been nice right from the start, a sharp contrast to how the other personnel had treated her. Jacob didn’t stand with a straight back as usual, why would he copy Saif’s hunched posture? And the words! They were wrong. This was Saif’s words in Jacob’s mouth. Saif controlled him!

Sweetness returned with purpose. Beth stood over her mom, who leaned at a wall. Muscles itched and fists tensed. No. The vines twisted hard and Beth prepared to strike down on mom. No. But her body would not obey. The hard knot in her stomach turned icy cold. No. Mom’s eyes glared with fear.

“Sweetheart, what are you doing?” Mom asked.

Beth’s mouth didn’t shape the word when she tried to speak. NO! Bones broke underneath her knuckles when the first punch connected. Mom puked blood and tried to shield with her hands. NO! Strike after strike pounded like hammer blows and warm blood splattered across Beth’s face. Mom gurgled with wet, strange bodily sounds. Bones and cranium shattered. Mom turned quiet and limp, but Beth struck again and again.

“Calm down now, young one,” Saif said.

Jacob gave her a pat on the back. “Good work.”

Beth couldn’t recognise her mom in that mangled corpse. It didn’t even look human. She slumped down on the floor and stared. Sweetness fled. Blood and specks of bone rested on her undamaged fists. Mom’s blood trickled down her face.

Hollow. She felt hollow. Someone picked her up and threw her into a new cell, but she hardly noticed. The room turned dark. Tears slid down her face and merged with the blood, forming strange almost artistic shapes. She slid a finger around the blood and tears in endless circles. Why? WHY!? She hugged her legs tight. The floor felt cold on the side of her face. She puked. They would all die by her hands. Everyone in this wretched place. No one would escape her wrath. Saif, that perverted scumbag. Saif would be torn in pieces. One by one, piece by piece.